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ELLA AL-SHAMAHI:
Where do we come from?

When did our story really begin?

Who were the first Homo sapiens?

Not just humans
who looked like us,

but people who thought

and behaved as we do.

People we would recognize
as truly one of us.

We Homo sapiens first appeared

over 300,000 years ago.

We're not
the first species of human.

We're not the biggest,
we're not the strongest.

We're just the latest
in a long line of other humans.

Yet a few hundred
thousand years later,

we are the only ones left.

How on Earth did this happen?

I'm Ella Al-Shamahi,

a paleoanthropologist.

People spend their whole lives

trying to find a fossil as
significant as this.

Our story
is stranger and more dramatic

than most of us realize.

Thanks to groundbreaking
fossil evidence,

and advances in DNA science,

we are able to picture the lives

of our ancestors
as never before.

From our very earliest origins

to our migration to
every corner of the globe.

From the first marks
we made on cave walls

to the rise of cities.

These are the unlikely events
that forged us.

Moments of chance,

but also ingenuity,
of beauty and destruction.

This is us.

This is our story.

And it's what happened

in the 99% of our history

before the invention of writing,

when our story wasn't written
in books,

but was written
in our bones and DNA.

This is
the story of what made us...

"Human."

"Origins."

Right now, on "NOVA."

AL-SHAMAHI:
We're used to living in a world
filled with other species.

Over eight million
share our planet with us.

But there is only one of us.

Only one human species,
Homo sapiens.

And so,
it's really easy to forget

that it wasn't always like this.

The world before us was alive
with other human activity.

When Homo sapiens first emerged,

there were at least
six different human species.

And using
the latest scientific data,

we can reconstruct what
they might have looked like.

There were
so many species of human.

You had Homo erectus,
an ancestor of ours

and an incredibly successful

species because they lived
for about two million years.

Now Homo erectus was
actually the first in our genus

to leave Africa.

And we also think that they were
the first to use fire.

There's also
Homo neanderthalensis,

who you probably
know as the Neanderthals.

Neanderthals lived in Europe
all the way into Central Asia.

They were cold-adapted.

And they were expert hunters.

There was also
Homo floresiensis,

who some people affectionately
call "the Hobbit."

Because they were
only about a meter tall,

so that's about
three and a half feet.

Tiny, and yet adapted
for living on an island.

It seems like
a fantastical world.

And I can't help it; it reminds
me of "Lord of the Rings."

Only instead of
a world with elves and dwarfs,

you had a magical place
with other humans.

The human family tree
had many branches.

But which branch did
Homo sapiens first emerge from?

We don't know for sure,

but we're getting closer
than ever to finding out.

For the longest time,

we thought we knew
the origins of our species.

We thought we began 200,000
years ago in East Africa.

But new revelations
from out here in Morocco,

from a part of Africa
that people

weren't really considering,
are forcing us to rethink

our very first steps
on this planet.

In a remote cave
in North West Africa,

a chance discovery

uncovered some mysterious
human remains.

Someone was living here.

Thousands of years
earlier than we imagined.

ABDELOUAHED BEN-NCER

AL-SHAMAHI:

BEN-NCER:

AL-SHAMAHI:
This is Jebel Irhoud 1,
and it was a complete mystery,

because some of its features
are very much like us,

very Homo sapiens and others are
much older, much more primitive.

So, if you look at
this individual's face.

Its face looks a lot like ours.

The Homo sapiens face
is incredibly gracile.

We have incredibly
delicate features.

They kind of tuck in under
our braincase.

If you imagine
a prehistoric human,

you kind of always imagine
a much kind of more prognathic,

we say, much more kind of
jutting forwards face.

This individual's face
is much more tucked under,

it's much shorter.

But there are some features
that aren't us.

Notice this brow ridge up here,
this supraorbital structure.

Now look at me.

You don't get modern
humans walking around today

with these massive
things on top of their eyes.

Now the brain case is not us.

Can you see how round
my brain case is, it's globular.

Whereas this
is almost stretched out,

so it almost looks like somebody
has got my braincase,

but kind
of stretched the back of it out.

It's almost like...

...straight on
the face is Homo sapiens,

but from the other angles,
it's not us.

This skull was an enigma.

An anomaly
that didn't fit neatly

into the human family tree
we thought we knew.

It looked partly
like Homo sapiens.

And partly like
an earlier kind of human.

So, the question was,
was this a different species,

or could it be
an early version of us?

Several decades after

the initial discoveries
came a breakthrough.

Archaeologists
uncovered another 16 fossils.

All with
the same blend of features.

And taken
together with the old finds,

a fuller picture
started to emerge.

BEN-NCER:

AL-SHAMAHI [speaking Arabic]:

BEN-NCER:

AL-SHAMAHI:

BEN-NCER:

AL-SHAMAHI:

BEN-NCER:

AL-SHAMAHI:
With each new find
the evidence grew.

These were
not some other species.

But Homo sapiens, with hints
of an earlier ancestor.

But it wasn't
until archaeologists

were able to more
accurately date the remains,

that the final piece
of the puzzle fell into place.

The archaeologists,
using new and improved

dating techniques,
were able

to give us dates for these
fossils.

And they tell us
that these individuals

lived about 300,000 years ago.

And that is
mind-boggling because

we thought our species was only
about 200,000 years old.

What these fossils tell us

is that our species,

Homo sapiens, is 100,000 years
older than we thought.

We are much
older than we realized.

This fossil
went from being enigmatic

and a, basically a mystery,

to being one
of the most important fossils

in our whole field.

Thousands of
miles from East Africa

where many anthropologists
thought we began,

and far older than expected,

these are the earliest
Homo sapiens ever found.

And they have
forced us to re-think

other finds across Africa.

Which are painting
an entirely new picture

of our origins,
suggesting Jebel Irhoud...

...was just one of many emerging
Homo sapiens populations.

It's...
it's a bit like having a peek

behind the curtain of evolution.

This is a stage
in the journey to becoming us.

I wonder what it would feel
like to come face to face

with one of the people
from Jebel Irhoud.

If we were to look into
their eyes...

...into those quite delicate
features...

...would we see ourselves
within them?

The answer is they were not
modern humans like us, not yet.

They were an earlier stage
in our evolutionary journey,

bridging the gap between us

and our more
ancient human ancestors.

Our emergence was actually slow,
and honestly, at the beginning

we were just not that special.

Now, early iterations
of Homo sapiens

like Jebel Irhoud were
popping up all over Africa.

Many anthropologists once
believed in a single origin,

a sole cradle of humanity
in East Africa,

but our story is far richer

and more interesting.

The latest evidence
suggests the traits that make us

who we are today,

emerged in different places,

across thousands of miles,

and over hundreds of thousands
of years.

Appearing bit by bit.

Like sparks igniting
across the African continent.

And yet,

Homo sapiens could have
easily vanished without trace.

Because just as we were finding
our place in the world...

...something threatened
to wipe us out altogether.

It's in East Africa's
Great Rift Valley

that we can trace
the next chapter of our story.

This dynamic landscape

holds some of the clearest
evidence

of the forces that set

our species on a radically
new path.

When they say
the Great Rift Valley

of East Africa
is a dramatic place...

they're not kidding.

I mean, look at it.

I can literally hear it
bubbling behind me

and it's the result of
a geological process

that sees three tectonic plates
tearing

away from each other,

which results in
a dynamic landscape.

And even though

this part doesn't look that
hospitable,

it has been a home to people

for a very long time.

In fact, the conditions here

for fossil preservation
are so good,

we know that is has been a home

to people for millions of years
because of the wealth

of archaeological evidence
found here.

This is one of the most
fossil rich regions in Africa.

Its unusual geology
has preserved human remains,

but it also offers

a glimpse into the forces
we think drove our evolution.

So, within the lake beds

here, if you dig deep,

you can actually
extract sediment cores.

Now one here in Ethiopia
was about 280 meters deep.

So that represents
over 600,000 years.

And within that sediment,

it's a bit like a time machine
because

bits of ancient
environment are trapped.

By analyzing
these sediment layers...

...scientists have uncovered
a window...

...into the world some of the
earliest Homo sapiens

were living in.

Over tens of thousands of years,

wild climate swings
engulfed Africa.

Thrusting the different
fledgling

populations of Homo sapiens...

...into a landscape of extreme

and unpredictable change.

Ecosystems were transformed.

Rivers and lakes swelled.

Cutting people off.

Elsewhere,
grasslands turned to desert.

Creating
a struggle for survival.

That could have wiped
Homo sapiens out altogether.

But it didn't,
it had the opposite effect.

It helped drive us forward.

Under pressure,

isolated Homo sapiens
populations both learnt

new skills
and genetically adapted

to the challenging conditions.

People with minds able
to innovate

had a better chance of
staying alive.

Then, as their climate
continued to change,

the surviving groups

came back together,

they shared skills,
and crucially,

interbred.

Passing their unique genes
onto their children.

It was a process

that began to change
our ancestors permanently.

The people who survived
emerged stronger than ever.

Today, most of us live
in towns and cities.

And so, the reality of
being affected by the climate

as a result of being
a nomadic person kind of

escapes us,
but you've actually got

a really good example

here with the Afar people.

They are nomadic and so they get

pushed and pulled
around the landscape.

And it would have been
very similar with our ancestors,

but actually,
in a more extreme fashion.

These different groups,

as they were moving around,
would have at times met

and when they did,
they would have, of course,

shared skills
and knowledge and DNA.

It was this mixing of groups
that ultimately brought

us closer to becoming
the Homo sapiens

we are today.

There's this new exciting theory

that suggests that our origins
as a species are so much more

complicated and dynamic,
involving not just East Africa,

but the whole
of the African continent.

Africa was a continent rich
in diversity,

and climate acted
as a sort of catalyst,

blending these various
groups together.

And so,
we were formed as a result

of a mosaic of these different
populations across Africa.

It was our diversity,

our resilience in the face
of climate change.

It shaped us,
our minds and our bodies

and transformed us into
a new and evolved human.

We all carry an echo
of what happened in Africa

at this pivotal moment.

Because what happened then,
changed us forever.

What began as different,
scattered populations...

...in the face of adversity,
came together.

Propelling us to become one,

stronger, smarter species.

This is a museum that houses

some of the most important
fossils in the human story.

And one of those fossils is
Herto1.

Easily, one of the most
significant Homo sapiens fossils

that has ever been found

and that's because this
individual

is one of the very first
in our lineage

that we can describe
as an anatomically modern human.

Its physical
characteristics and traits

are overwhelmingly similar

to those of yours and mine.

And if you look at this
individual

compared to Jebel Irhoud,

look how rounded it is.

Some people have put forward

this intriguing idea that
perhaps

the shape of the skull

reflects a change
in brain organization.

This evolution
of a rounder skull

has been linked to coordination
and language skills.

And it is really exciting
to consider

that this change in shape

reflects
a really significant shift

in the way that Homo sapiens
were starting to think.

These reorganized brains
had slowly but surely

opened a gap between
Homo sapiens and our ancestors.

But it wasn't only the shape
of our brains that set us apart.

One of the lines of evidence
for this,

are actually the teeth.

Now scientists have
discovered that if you look

very closely at the teeth,
what you find

are very fine lines called
Perikymata; they represent

about a week
in the life of an individual.

So that means

you can count how long
an individual has been alive,

a bit like tree rings.

The teeth can also
reveal when they erupted.

That timing can be used
to estimate

how close a child is to
becoming an adult.

And so, if you look at a
Homo erectus individual

and compare it to, say,

a Homo sapiens living today,
our species

takes an incredibly long time
to get to sexual maturity.

From the lines on their teeth,

we know that Homo sapiens
children

were growing up
slower than earlier humans.

The thinking behind it is
that we needed

a really long time to learn how
to use these brains of ours.

And the longer

that you exist in childhood,
the longer you have to learn.

And so, this thing that
is a real headache

to so many
parents out there today,

that our children take so long
to become fully formed.

That might actually
be a huge key to our success.

Reorganized minds
and longer childhoods.

Our brains
and bodies had evolved.

At last, we were Homo sapiens
who physically looked like us.

What you might call sapiens 2.0.

It was some of these modern,
evolved Homo sapiens

that found their way out
into the wider world.

But beyond Africa was
already home to other humans.

Neanderthals had spread
across central Asia and Europe.

Other parts of Asia
were populated

by multiple human species,

including Homo erectus.

And there is
evidence in the Middle East

of an early group of
Homo sapiens.

Who followed in the footsteps

of these other human species.

We're so used to living in a
world with borders

that it is easy to forget
that Homo sapiens at the time

had no concept of Africa.

And so, if the climate allowed,

they ventured out
and expanded into new territory.

I do love thinking about

those huge moments
in our history, like,

when Homo sapiens
first left Africa.

It was a massive achievement,
even though they would

have had no idea
of the significance of it.

And it's amazing to think
that it happened

so early on in our story.

But it's in
the Levant that I think

things get really interesting.

Evidence has been
uncovered of Homo sapiens

living in caves in the Levant

in an area now part of Israel.

And it's in this place,

they would have encountered
something unexpected.

There is one mountain
called Mount Carmel,

where one cave called Skhul
has been found

with Homo sapiens,

and another cave
on the same mountain,

called Tabun Cave,

has been found with
Neanderthal individuals.

And these two peoples

were living at around
the same time.

It is kind of
wonderful to think about.

Two species perhaps sharing
the same mountain

at the same time.

We don't know
if they interacted.

But we do know

that while Neanderthals
remained in the region,

all traces of this group of
Homo sapiens vanished.

Their bloodline
died out completely.

What is most fascinating
about these Homo sapiens

isn't who they met; it isn't
even what they achieved.

It's that all of these
early dispersals failed.

We know from genetic evidence
that those Homo sapiens

are not the ones who would go on

to ultimately populate
the planet.

This failed migration
was a stark reminder

of our fragility.

These people looked like us.

But we don't know
if they thought like us.

Because what would come
to define our species

wouldn't be how we look

or even the size

of our brains.

But something else altogether.

While these
early migrants vanished...

...populations in Africa
thrived.

Coming together
to manifest some behaviors

that feel very familiar.

These behaviors would set
Homo sapiens apart.

And some of the earliest
traces of this

can be found in a remote cave
in Botswana.

Sheila Coulson has been
studying this cave

since 2004.

And she has an intriguing theory

about what might
have taken place here.

This is obviously
a very large natural outcrop.

And as you can see,
goes on and on.

It's seven meters long.

The front has
a natural slit for a mouth,

and a natural depression
for an eye and even,

if you want to go that far,
a nostril up at the front.

Right.
With the head rearing up,

it does, in modern eyes,

look like a snake.

The overall form has
been altered

to make it look even more
snake-like.

There are over 300

indentations that have been
ground into the surface

over what is obviously
an extended period of time.

When the initial
excavations were conducted,

they absolutely
revealed a number of questions.

One of the things found
was an extremely large number

of tools that appeared
to be manufactured

and then just left there
in pristine condition.

These look gorgeous, I mean,
they're absolutely stunning.

Once they were manufactured,

then you did one
of three things with it.

You either
manufactured it perfectly

and just left it.
Hm.

Or more interestingly,
you burnt it.

But not burnt to just,
like, throwing it in a bonfire.

It's controlled burning.

And the third and most bizarre
thing that they did with them

is they made it,

manufactured it perfectly

and when they were finished,

turned it over,
smashed it in the middle.

AL-SHAMAHI :
This behavior
suggests that people

were likely coming here
to make offerings.

Which tells us something
about how their minds worked.

Although, it's absolutely
magnificent during the daytime,

it comes to life at night.

You make an offering

and hope for something back.

Asking for probably some of the
things that we would ask for:

food, health, children,
etcetera, etcetera.

And you just think, oh my gosh,
that's some of the...

...that's some of the earliest
behavior

that we know so well.

Some scientists believe
that the people who performed

these rituals were likely

holding abstract ideas
in their minds.

When I see this,
this is what moves me,

because this

is who we are, in a way

that feels more us than bones.

We are, as a species,
obsessed with ritual.

It is religion and spirituality,

or things like the handshake
or birthdays,

graduation ceremonies,

Burning Man,
Glastonbury, New Year's Eve.

Profoundly and fundamentally
Homo sapiens behavior.

This intriguing site hints at

how our mental abilities
were developing.

Forming new connections
that would

embed abstract thought
into our behavior.

And this wasn't
just confined to ritual,

it touched
every part of our lives.

By 70,000 years ago,

a sophisticated new weapon
began appearing

across southern Africa.

Homo sapiens were using
abstract thought to innovate,

inventing complex projectile

weapons like the bow and arrow.

We were seeing the world
not just as it was,

but as it could be.

It takes a lot to see the
potential

in a piece of wood.

Projectile weapons were
revolutionary technology

for us humans,
because up until now,

we'd been using closer range
hunting strategies

which were
less effective, less lethal,

and yet more dangerous for
the person holding the weapon.

For over two million years,

early humans mostly relied
on axes and spears.

But Homo sapiens took
materials...

...and imagined how they could
fit together

...to engineer a more
powerful weapon.

One that is safer to use.

If you look
at this bow and arrow,

you can see how much
knowledge is required.

You need to know where
to get the wood for the bow.

You need to know about the glue.

You need to know how
taut the strings should be.

So many elements
that require not just

knowledge, but the ability
to pass that knowledge on.

Something like this
is not the result

of one person's genius.

It's the result of many, many
people over many generations

inventing, reinventing,
perfecting, tinkering.

We weren't just inventing.

We were adapting

and expanding our knowledge.

Human culture

was becoming more complex.

The technology was exploding.

Now, many of us think that this
is a result of something

called cumulative culture,

the idea that
you accumulate culture.

So, every generation builds
upon the previous generations'

science and technology.

Homo sapiens were displaying
a degree of cumulative culture

that went beyond the other
human species

and was growing.

And as our numbers increased,

this was more powerful
than any weapon.

A giant leap towards becoming
the species we are today.

When was our species truly born?

Was it when we first appeared?

Or when we started
to look like modern humans?

Or was it when our minds lit up?

Creating,

inventing and
building on our knowledge?

Each was a crucial step in
our evolution.

But none would be possible
without one special ingredient.

The glue that binds all
of our achievements together.

It leaves no
direct fossil evidence,

but we can find traces of it

in some unexpected places.

In archaeology,
sometimes the smallest finds

actually tell
the grandest of stories.

These are tiny marine shells,

and shells like this have been
found in caves in South Africa.

And they are just too small
to have been collected for meat.

If you look really closely,

what you see is
that they have holes in them.

Now, some of these were
collected because

they already had holes,

but others were perforated
by Homo sapiens.

And really close examination
of the shells show

that they had
wear marks on them consistent

with having
been worn on the body.

So that, along with these

holes in them, well it's really
easy to paint a picture

of them having been strung...

...and turned into jewelry.

They were also painted red;
these weren't just beads,

they were symbols
of value and meaning,

shared and understood by many.

Perhaps you were trading them
for food, for goods.

Perhaps you'd give them as some
kind of a gift, at a wedding.

Perhaps they were
just a sign of friendliness,

and you can
also imagine that people

would be wearing them
to make themselves look good.

It would perhaps be a sign
of prestige.

The most remarkable thing
about these shells

is that they have been found
not just in South Africa,

but all over Africa,
from the south,

all the way to the north
in Morocco and Algeria.

And that for me is so exciting.

Because when you look at this,

you might think,
oh my God, isn't that amazing?

Humans have a kind of
cultural expression

that they never had before.

Homo sapiens were now sharing
complicated technology,

rituals and traditions.

They were expressing

sophisticated ideas
that likely required language.

While earlier humans probably
had basic language,

it's thought that Homo sapiens
were speaking

to each other
in a different way.

Culture connected our species,

possibly across
the entire continent.

All over Africa,

we understood
the cultural symbolism

of these beads.

Somebody was telling you,
this shell is important,

not that shell.

Red is important,
not the other colors.

We had an understanding

that wasn't just you,
me and our three families.

You, me and
the village next door.

We had a kind of
symbolism and understanding

and interconnectedness
that was continent-wide.

Our species' birth
wasn't a single moment,

it unfolded over millennia.

Complex language
and our powerful shared culture

were the final elements setting
us apart from other humans.

No longer scattered groups,

we had become one connected,
cooperative species.

We had become Homo sapiens.

The ancestors of us all.

Sometimes in life
things come together

and this was a coming
together for our species.

It was a perfect storm.

You had a change in brain.

You had language,
increased numbers,

increased connectivity,
cumulative culture,

better technology and weaponry,
and the right climate.

But through all of this,

there was a hidden thread.

Our secret weapon is that we are

a social, cooperative species.

Friendliness,
it turns out, is our superpower.

We are more
than the sum of our parts,

whether it's ritual,
technology, language,

all of it comes down
to cooperation, in my opinion.

And that's how you go
from a species

that started off feebly,
unremarkably,

to one that would become
so extraordinary,

one ready to explore
this planet.