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ELLA AL-SHAMAHI:
Humans.

From hunter-gatherers

to builders of mega-cities

in just a few thousand years.

How did this happen?

Our story so far,

if it teaches us anything,

it's that none of this
was a foregone conclusion.

To get here,

we had to harness nature

at a scale
we had never known before.

This place is stunning,

and yet a complete and utter
death trap.

And as we started
to lay down roots...

Wow.

...we faced new challenges.

In some houses, there are
up to 62 people buried in them.

AL-SHAMAHI:
Each generation
building on the last.

Sharing ideas,
inspiring, and collaborating.

It is so hard to stand here
and not have goosebumps.

We learned to communicate
in new ways...

This is the birthplace
of the alphabet.

...and built marvels.

So, this is a

snapshot in time

of the building

of the Great Pyramid.

And you found it.

"Human: Building Empires."

Right now, on "NOVA."

Major funding for "NOVA"
is provided by the following.

AL-SHAMAHI:
Around 300,000 years ago...

...our species, Homo sapiens,

evolved in Africa.

For generations,
small bands of hunter-gatherers

explored the planet.

Learning to survive.

Many other species of human
walked the Earth alongside us.

But one by one,
they disappeared...

...until only we remained.

For most of our history,
our population

was tiny and fragile.

Every aspect of our lives
determined by the natural world.

And yet...

...everything would change.

Today, there are
about eight billion of us,

most of us living

in cities like this one,

able to connect in an instant
with people across the planet.

And you might think
it was inevitable,

the result of progress
over time.

But surely our story so far,
if it teaches us anything,

it's that none of this
was a foregone conclusion.

So how did we get here?

How did humanity transform
from scattered groups of nomads

into our modern,
interconnected world?

What happened in that final
chapter of our story

that took us on a path
to this place?

On a remote hilltop
in the southeast of Turkey...

...stands a prehistoric monument
steeped in mystery.

It is so hard to stand here
and not have goosebumps.

This is the oldest temple

unearthed anywhere
on this planet.

It was built 11,500 years ago
by hunter-gatherers.

That's 6,000 years earlier
than Stonehenge.

And yet, somehow,

our ancestors were capable
of making this.

This is Göbekli Tepe.

Incredible T-shaped pillars,
which you could imagine

would have been holding up
a huge roof.

And then if we look at them,

they're covered
in these engravings.

So, this is a fox.

There's vultures here.

There's bear, there's wild boar.

And here...

This one just has to be
my favorite.

Look at these incredible teeth.

And it's hunting
one of those wild boars.

And yet,

this incredible feat
of architecture

is not the most revolutionary
thing about this place.

Göbekli Tepe
is not simply a temple.

It is a marker of a species
in the midst of change.

Similar sites have been found
across the region.

In many ways,
these prehistoric builders lived

as their ancestors had
for thousands of years.

Their days spent
foraging and hunting

to feed their families.

But they'd made
one fundamental change.

After thousands of generations
spent as nomads,

following the herds
they hunted...

...at places like Göbekli Tepe,

they began to settle down.

The evidence lies
not in the temple itself...

...but in the rubble
surrounding it.

Now, this might not look
like much compared to that,

but this small square building
is actually the remains

of one of the first permanent
houses ever built.

That there is a storage vessel,

this is a grinding stone
for wild wheat,

and this floor
of plaster and stone,

this was somebody's home.

This is one
of the first villages.

Archaeologists think
maybe a few hundred people

were living here.

And calling it home.

For 300,000 years,

Homo sapiens roamed freely.

But now they were gathering
together to put down roots.

And so, the question is, why?

And why now?

This was a world of plenty.

Warm and abundant.

But the planet had not always
been this way.

Only a few thousand years
earlier,

Homo sapiens were on the move...

...contending with the brutal
peak of the last ice age.

Now that the climate
had stabilized,

food could remain abundant
in a single place for longer.

And so, people started to stay.

And when large groups
came together to trade

and share their bounty,

a feature of our brain
had an opportunity to flourish

like never before.

Our almost limitless capacity
to learn.

An ability with roots
that can be traced way back,

right to the beginning
of the human story.

As the distant ancestors
of our species

were gradually evolving...

...they were developing
larger brains.

But as their brains grew,

the way they were organized
was evolving, too.

Becoming increasingly adaptable,
and more able to change

in response to stimulation
from the outside world.

Until they became us.

A species with
a highly flexible mind.

We call this flexibility
neuroplasticity

because it's like our brains
are plastic.

They adapt, they alter,

and they change.

It has some profound effects.

AL-SHAMAHI:
With such a high level
of neuroplasticity,

Homo sapiens' skill
at learning from each other

makes for expert collaboration.

At places like Göbekli Tepe,

they gathered together
to trade, feast,

and share ideas.

And they carved these ideas

into the stones.

The odd thing about being human

is that we are constantly
surrounded by a bunch of things

that are so all-encompassing,

and yet we never really think

about where they started
or where they come from.

I'm talking here about culture.

Ritual, custom, language, art--

stories and ideas

that have been passed down
orally through generations

and have now found
physical form.

Places like Göbekli Tepe became
so rich in meaning.

AL-SHAMAHI:
And culture flourished.

Cooperating
and building connections...

...are what our brains
are actually set up to do.

Wherever humans settled down,

an explosion in creativity
followed.

Launching an era
of extraordinary innovation.

We can see
the results of this shift

in the archaeological record.

Which begins to seethe
with the debris

of new technology.

But one innovation
from around this time

would have consequences greater
than the settlers could

possibly have imagined.

They were now no longer
tracking seasonal herds,

but seeking safe, reliable ways

to feed themselves.

They'd stopped
chasing their food

and started rearing it...

...providing a regular supply
of milk, cheese, and yogurt.

And later,

textiles, like wool.

Season after season.

The farming of animals

marked a watershed moment.

The result of this I don't
think could have been predicted.

This altered relationship

that they had with animals

altered them, because not long

after they learnt
how to do this,

something fascinating happened.

Their population
started to boom.

We're not really sure
why this happened,

but one compelling theory

is that people
staying in one place

and not moving as much,
but also having more food,

having more calories,

basically led to mums having
more energy for reproduction.

As our numbers rose,
settlements began springing up.

Scattered across an area we now
call the Fertile Crescent.

As their populations grew,

villages transformed into towns.

And one particularly
large settlement was Çatalhöyük.

A strange forerunner
of the towns and cities

we know today.

Wow.

Every single one of these
is a house?
That's right.

And you have to imagine
of course,

that each of these housesis a box

with, with a roof.

But, uh, there's no space, really,

between them, like a beehive.

The fact that they're all
tightly up against each other

means that the whole thing is
much more structurally sound.

AL-SHAMAHI:
There's literally no gap.

The only way you can
get in the house

is to move along the roofs
and go down through a hole

into the house because
there's no streets.

AL-SHAMAHI:
Each dwelling was small and had
its door in the ceiling.

The inhabitants
lived much of their lives

up on the roofs.

Grinding grain, trading,

and feasting in the bright
sunlight above their homes.

And these farmers left behind
intriguing signs

that they were here to stay.

What are those holes
over there?

These are
the ancestors

who are buried
beneath the floors.

In some houses, there are up
to 62 people buried in them.

AL-SHAMAHI:
I mean, Ian,
60-odd people being buried,

that's a graveyard in a home.

We've dug up
hundreds of burials here.

And what's fascinating is
that people were sleeping

just a few centimeters

from the bones
of their ancestors.

AL-SHAMAHI:
Between the dead,
the living, and their animals,

this thriving town
was densely packed.

At its height, some people
think there were 8,000 people

living at Çatalhöyük,

so that's one of the largest
settlements

on the planet at this point.

And yet, the formula for success
that was playing out here

also turned out
to be a bit of a disaster.

Our pioneering farmer ancestors
couldn't have known it,

but they had opened
Pandora's box.

Amongst the many burials
of Çatalhöyük...

...were skull after skull with
clear signs of violent impact.

And it's something not only seen
at Çatalhöyük.

In many early
farming settlements,

we start to see the unmistakable
signs of violence.

Suggesting the two
might be connected.

Choosing to live like this,
in such close proximity

with your neighbors,

with the animals
which you're breeding,

with your rubbish,

in a way that has never been
seen before,

leads to this cascade.

The densely populated towns had
become exposed to new dangers.

Living with their animals
spread disease.

Their dependence on crops
made them vulnerable

to failed harvests.

AL-SHAMAHI:
And with ever-growing
competition for the land

near the settlement,

people were not only trying
to battle nature,

they were battling each other.

These challenges prevented towns

from growing
into great metropolises.

Instead, growth was followed
by collapse

and often exodus.

And as the early town dwellers

left their homes and farms
in droves,

they faced a choice.

To settle down again

or rejoin the vast majority
of humans across the globe

still living nomadic lives.

For me, this is one of
the biggest mysteries

in the history of our species.

Because for the very first
settlers, it was a disaster.

They were facing disease
and famine.

And yet, at the very same time,

across the planet,
hunter-gatherers were thriving.

And that way of life
we know works,

because today, millions of
people live like that.

They have made it
to the 21st century

just like the rest of us.

And yet we know
how this story ends.

Most of us live in huge cities
like this.

So, what set us on a path

to where we are now?

Clues can be found
along the great rivers

of the ancient world.

There are bits of our story
where geography

just does not feel like a fluke.

Where, if it was gonna happen,

it was always gonna happen here,
and that's how you feel

on the Nile as an archaeologist.

Because five-and-a-half
thousand years ago,

if you wanted to build
something permanent

and you were in Egypt
or Mesopotamia,

which is mostly
in modern-day Iraq,

the only real place to do it
was along the Nile

or the Tigris and Euphrates.

Because beyond
the thin strips of green

that cut through
this arid landscape,

there is very little
but sand and death.

This narrow strip
of habitable land

was one of the few places
to grow food and raise animals.

But to produce enough,

they had to control
this natural resource.

The people needed
to direct the water

on to their fields

and harvest en masse
once a year.

And so, they had no choice
but to live and work together.

The people flooded
into the Nile Valley,

jostling for space.

AL-SHAMAHI:
But now, instead of abandoning
their communities

when the towns
became overcrowded...

...they restructured them.

When you live in a small group,

you've all got to be good,

or at least competent,

at everything to survive.

But living in a larger group,

you can suddenly specialize.

Some of you might become
really good

at a particular kind
of textile-making.

Others might become
stone makers,

butchers, bakers.

Probably not
candlestick makers, yet.

All cogs in a huge machine

at a scale
that had never been seen before.

The people
of these busy settlements

were becoming part
of a social group...

...with hundreds or thousands
of strangers.

And in the process,

laying the foundation
for something brand-new.

Now, I know archaeologists
are constantly pointing at walls

and trying to convince people
of how important they are,

but this wall,
this absolutely huge wall,

is pretty much all that's left
of the original city of Abydos.

Abydos was one of the very
first cities in Egypt,

and walls that look like this
would have surrounded the city,

indicating a momentous shift
in the way

humans live together.

Because to be on this side
of the wall

meant protection

and access to the grain stores.

But to be on that side
of the wall

meant to literally be without.

Now, humans
have always been tribal.

We've always been able to act
and think as part of a group.

But what places like this prove

is that tribalism was scalable
to the size of a city.

All along the great rivers
of the ancient world...

...huge cities began to appear

as our ancestors

found the secret
to living at scale.

A change which would
propel us forward

at an astonishing rate.

AL-SHAMAHI:
The cities thrived.

Their newly specialized
populations

invented, made, and traded

an unprecedented number
of objects.

And in the process,

created a tool,

unassuming at first glance,

that would become
a powerful instrument.

I know they don't look
like much.

They look like just
square pieces of bone.

They were found in Abydos,
in a tomb

thought to be that of a king

known as the Scorpion King

from about 5,300 years ago.

Now, some of these symbols are

very recognizable.

That's obviously a bird.

This is a plant of some kind.

And notice the holes in them.

These are effectively
labels or tags.

And these symbols

perhaps represented
the provenance

where the item that they
were attached to came from.

Perhaps they have a quantity,
as well, attached to them.

And then,

someone had this absolutely
revolutionary idea.

What if they strung them
together?

With some local knowledge

to give them a shared meaning,

gradually, the rows of images

became more complex.

Until

we stopped labeling

and started writing.

Detailed knowledge and culture

that had previously been
passed down,

generation to generation
to generation,

was now able to be preserved
in a completely different way.

And the thing with writing

is that, like so many
of the giant leaps forward

that we have made as a species--

and I, I'm thinking here about
the invention of agriculture,

and metalworks, and the wheel--

writing does seem like an idea

whose time had come.

Because it doesn't just happen
in Egypt.

Again and again
across the Earth,

we invented forms of writing.

Giving our facts, stories,
and ideas lasting form.

AL-SHAMAHI:
And we still have
no conclusive evidence

as to how, or even whether,

these events
influenced each other

or whether they happened
organically,

as a result of needing to keep
track of things at that scale.

But however it happened,

once writing was a thing,

once it was out there
in the world,

then nothing would be the same
ever again.

Now laws, customs, and beliefs

could be recorded permanently
in ink.

But with over 700 symbols,

this technology required
years of study to master.

And so was the sole preserve
of those trained to use it--

scribes working
for the ruling class.

And the ability to send out

detailed instructions
to people across the land

gave the rulers enormous power

to influence, instruct,
and build.

In 2013,

a team of archaeologists
were excavating

a cave on the Red Sea coast...

...when they found ancient
fragments of inscribed papyrus.

Preserved there
for over 4,000 years...

...they're believed to be
the oldest ever found...

...and a time capsule from
the reign of an iconic ruler.

So, this is...

This is your actual excavation
notebook from the time?

Yeah, yeah-- every day,
I was recording

the papyri,

and we were surprised to find
most of them

have the name of a king,

and this pharaoh is Khufu,

the builder of
the Great Pyramid.

AL-SHAMAHI:
Khufu ruled Egypt
for over two decades,

and one of humankind's
most iconic constructions

was built to honor him:

the first of
the pyramids of Giza.

The team discovered
around 1,000 pieces of papyrus,

revealing a vastly complex
construction project.

Wow.
Yeah.

It belongs to a kind ofelites

at that time,

because we don't think that

more than one percent
of the population

was able to read and write.

It's a logbook,

and for example here,

on the first day of the month,

they are sending
a boat to Heliopolis

to fetch the food
for the workers.

And when it arrives,

it's written in red,

because it's much more
important for them

than everything else.

About 40 days,
you have a precise record

of what, what he is doing.

Egyptian extracted
fine limestone blocks

that were used to, for
the building

of the outer casing
of the pyramids.

So, this is...

This is telling us

how they built...
Mm.

...the pyramids, basically.
Yeah, this is, this...

This, this is the
administration behind it all.
This is, yeah.

That, that's absolutely
incredible.

So, this is
a snapshot in time

of the building
of the Great Pyramid.

Mm.

And you found it.

Without all those records,

I think the pyramid would not
have been possible.

AL-SHAMAHI:
You can't really overstate

the significance
of finding a document like that.

One from such a pivotal moment
in history.

And when
you read the translation,

you definitely do get a sense

of what a logistical feat
it was,

building these things.

But you do also get a real sense

of how mundane and bureaucratic
it all was,

just kind of ordinary humans
doing ordinary human things.

Between the invention of writing

and the building
of the pyramids,

there were no major
technological advancements

that we know of in Egypt.

And so, for 4,500 years,

people have looked at these

and just had their breath
taken away,

and wondered how on Earth
were they built.

And perhaps the answer
is just this simple:

writing built the pyramids.

And even though they were
originally built for the elites,

they actually became symbols
of national identity,

which bind huge groups
of people together

on an unconscious level.

The unit of human cooperation

had grown from tribe to village

to town to city...

...and now to nation.

But alongside the emergence
of these nation states

was a more sinister development
at a new scale.

What had once been
tribal skirmishes

became state warfare...

...recorded by the victors
in art and writing.

The emerging superpowers began

launching military campaigns
against their neighbors

for land, resources,
and manpower.

Many of the early civilizations
follow this pattern

of growth, innovation, writing,

and an ever more
stratified society.

By 4,000 years ago,

we'd clearly made
some massive strides

to the modern world,

with the rise
of the civilizations

that were supporting
so many more people,

and about 70 million of us
walking this planet.

But.

The disparity
in the human condition

had never been so wide.

Some people were living gods,
and they would go on

to build monuments like these
to themselves

for centuries.

But many more were slaves,
who were forced to live

in the shadows of the splendor

that they'd helped to create.

And humankind's
powerful new tool,

writing,

still remained in the hands
of just a tiny number.

If we were going
to get to the future,

the here and now,
as you and I know it,

it was going to require a spark
from somewhere else.

Almost 4,000 years ago,

a small group made a journey

to one of the most
inhospitable places on Earth...

...through the baking, barren
waste

of the Sinai Desert.

But here,
in this desolate landscape,

they would change the world.

This place is stunning,

and yet a complete and utter
death trap.

It was of very little interest

to the Egyptian elites.

That is, until someone
found something

in these mountains.

Lots and lots of copper.

And this stuff, turquoise.

Raw materials
that could be transformed

into jewels and ornaments
of great value.

If you could extract them
from this harsh landscape.

Far to the north

was the tiny land of Retjenu.

When Egypt demanded laborers

for this treacherous
mining mission,

it was the unfortunate people
of this small state

who had no choice
but to answer the call.

I can't imagine
what it would have been like

to be dragged here to work
in the turquoise mines.

In the blazing heat,
in the middle of nowhere.

It must have been like

being dropped onto the surface
of a different planet.

And even the Egyptians
probably wondered

if they would make it back home.

The Egyptians turned
to their gods for protection.

And here, high up

on a desolate plateau,
far from home,

they built a temple
to ask for it.

Remnants have survived
remarkably unscathed

for almost 4,000 years.

Frozen in time
by the bone-dry desert.

This temple is dedicated
to the goddess Hathor,

who is the goddess
of turquoise and miners.

And they were documenting
and celebrating their presence

and worshipping their gods.

And each one of these pillars

represents one of the missions.

And they are hierarchical,
so, you've got

the pharaoh at the top,

and it goes through the ranks.

You've got stonemasons,

et cetera, et cetera,
et cetera, until,

this is the brother
of the prince of Retjenu.

Retjenu is where
the miners came from.

And yet the miners are so lowly

that they're not even named
on the pillars.

But they would have come
through here.

They would've seen
this grandeur,

this splendor.

One theory is, the miners
saw these hieroglyphs

and also wanted to immortalize
their presence here.

But there was a problem.

They weren't part of the elites,

and so they couldn't write.

It's thought the miners did
what we humans have always done.

They copied what they'd seen

and made it their own.

This is one
of the turquoise mines.

And if you look all
over the walls,

there are these scratches

from where the workers' pickaxes
have been.

But here,
something else is going on.

There are about
30 or 40 of them

all over this place.

Some of these have been copied

from hieroglyphics,
but some are completely new.

And here's how the system works.

You take the symbol

and you say the name,

but you only take
the first sound,

and you discard the rest.

So, for example, this here,

this is an ox.

You can see the horns
and the head here.

To the miners,
this would be aleph.

Now, aleph,

just take the first sound, "ah,"

discard the rest.

This is another symbol,
this is the symbol for house.

To them, it would be bet.

So, you just take the "beh"
sound at the beginning.

And if you put
these two together,

you start understanding what
you're actually looking at here.

This is the
birthplace

of the alphabet.

This new script

was simpler to learn
than hieroglyphics

because the alphabet did not
represent complete words,

but spoken sounds.

It was able to convey
any thought

with only 20 to 30 symbols.

These miners
are the ones

who gave birth to this,

and their legacy
is still with us today

and is so important.

In the centuries and millennia
that followed...

...nearly all the early
written languages

fell into obscurity
as those civilizations waned.

But this alphabet
would only grow,

spreading across the planet,

reshaping and branching
into many different forms.

It now forms the basis

of most known
written languages...

...allowing millions,

and then billions,
of ordinary humans

to access knowledge,
to communicate,

and to document their thoughts,

and their existence,

in every corner of the globe.

For me, this is one

of the most powerful moments

in the human story,

because unbeknownst to the
underdog,

they had changed the world.

One of civilization's most
profound and revolutionary ideas

didn't come
from an educated elite.

It came from inside these
dark and miserable mines,

through the copying
and innovating

of lowly migrant workers.

The invention of writing
marks an ending and a beginning.

Because prehistory--
so, the period before writing--

we could only really
piece together

using fragments and artifacts.

And now recorded time, history,
had begun.

And what we see is
that as writing spreads,

the pace of human innovation
accelerates.

Because that is the power

of being able to document
and lay down knowledge.

Generation after generation
building on the last,

retaining and accumulating
knowledge.

Stone became bronze.

Iron became silicon.

Handwritten became printed.

Printed became typed.

And gradually,
we built the future.

This is the very final bone

of our series.

This is actually
one of the three ear bones.

And just like every human bone

we've encountered,

whether Homo sapiens
or otherwise,

it represents a person.

This individual had a family,

parents, perhaps children, friends.

But what's
particularly remarkable

is how much we now know about
these ancient ancestors of ours,

thanks to modern temples
of knowledge,

like this one.

The scientists here are able
to extract DNA

from an individual
who, in this case,

lived about 1,600 years ago,

from a piece of bone

that is so tiny, delicate,
and precious.

And they're able
to ask questions,

like whether industrialization
and agriculture

actually affected our DNA,

whether we're still evolving.

And to think

that our knowledge

has got to the point

where we're even able
to entertain

such huge questions

from something so tiny.

For me, there's a poetryin that.

We can look back

on when nature and luck
were on our side

and when they weren't.

Where we made
the right decisions

and where we went wrong.

But what underpins our story
and makes it unique

is far more than just
our will to survive.

It's our cultural drive
to come together,

to learn from
and inspire each other,

to go further
than what has gone before.

We are the very last species
of human

to walk this Earth.

And the most fascinating thing

about our 300,000-year-long
story

is that we have no idea
how much is left.

Is this basically
the whole of our story,

or are we on the first act
or even prologue,

with a long future ahead of us?

We have no idea.

But we are one species
with one future.

Now, you could never have
predicted how we got here.

And where we go next

is up to all of us.