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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:01,233 --> 00:00:02,700 ♪ ♪ 2 00:00:02,700 --> 00:00:06,933 ELLA AL-SHAMAHI: By around 25,000 years ago, 3 00:00:06,933 --> 00:00:10,800 ancient humans had reached almost every part of the globe. 4 00:00:12,266 --> 00:00:16,733 And then people stepped into a new world: 5 00:00:16,733 --> 00:00:19,300 the Americas. 6 00:00:19,300 --> 00:00:20,800 ♪ ♪ 7 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:22,300 These are the footprints 8 00:00:22,300 --> 00:00:24,100 of an actual human being, 9 00:00:24,100 --> 00:00:26,900 who stood basically where I'm standing. 10 00:00:26,900 --> 00:00:30,133 ♪ ♪ 11 00:00:30,133 --> 00:00:32,000 (slide projector clicks) 12 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:34,800 Where and when did Homo sapiens 13 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:38,600 first arrive in the Americas? 14 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:41,900 They were here at one of the coldest moments 15 00:00:41,900 --> 00:00:44,933 that Homo sapiens had ever known. 16 00:00:44,933 --> 00:00:47,033 What did they encounter 17 00:00:47,033 --> 00:00:50,366 when they began to explore this new continent? 18 00:00:50,366 --> 00:00:54,200 And then look at these teeth-- look at these canines. 19 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:57,266 They're the stuff that nightmares are made of. 20 00:00:58,400 --> 00:00:59,433 The resilience... 21 00:00:59,433 --> 00:01:01,466 (mammoth bellows) 22 00:01:01,466 --> 00:01:03,500 ...and innovation... 23 00:01:03,500 --> 00:01:06,766 ♪ ♪ 24 00:01:06,766 --> 00:01:08,533 ...that humans needed 25 00:01:08,533 --> 00:01:12,133 to survive their first journeys through the Americas... 26 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:16,100 ...would shape the modern world 27 00:01:16,100 --> 00:01:20,466 in ways they could never have predicted. 28 00:01:20,466 --> 00:01:24,300 More and more of us were quite literally 29 00:01:24,300 --> 00:01:26,100 putting down roots. 30 00:01:27,733 --> 00:01:30,633 "Human: Into the Americas"-- 31 00:01:30,633 --> 00:01:33,700 right now, on "NOVA." 32 00:01:33,700 --> 00:01:37,333 ♪ ♪ 33 00:01:59,166 --> 00:02:02,666 ♪ ♪ 34 00:02:04,033 --> 00:02:07,466 AL-SHAMAHI: For much of the last 300,000 years, 35 00:02:07,466 --> 00:02:12,066 our species, Homo sapiens, lived in a world 36 00:02:12,066 --> 00:02:15,866 inhabited by other types of human. 37 00:02:17,166 --> 00:02:19,200 ♪ ♪ 38 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:21,600 We hunted and foraged for food 39 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:25,033 alongside many of our human relatives. 40 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,700 But one by one, 41 00:02:28,700 --> 00:02:31,333 we out-survived them 42 00:02:31,333 --> 00:02:34,800 and spread across the planet 43 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:38,266 as small bands of nomads 44 00:02:38,266 --> 00:02:43,066 until we'd reached almost every corner of the globe. 45 00:02:44,700 --> 00:02:48,833 ♪ ♪ 46 00:02:48,833 --> 00:02:51,466 But there was a great landmass 47 00:02:51,466 --> 00:02:54,466 that was still unknown to us. 48 00:02:54,466 --> 00:02:58,500 ♪ ♪ 49 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:09,233 ♪ ♪ 50 00:03:23,233 --> 00:03:26,000 It's possible humans took different routes 51 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:28,833 to first reach the Americas. 52 00:03:28,833 --> 00:03:31,100 But during the last ice age, 53 00:03:31,100 --> 00:03:34,066 sea levels were much lower, 54 00:03:34,066 --> 00:03:36,000 and so archaeologists believe 55 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:41,000 the main approaches passed across a vast land bridge 56 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:45,233 connecting Asia and North America: 57 00:03:45,233 --> 00:03:46,966 Beringia. 58 00:03:48,833 --> 00:03:52,633 (wind blowing) 59 00:03:52,633 --> 00:03:54,433 And in this frozen north, 60 00:03:54,433 --> 00:03:56,766 small groups of travelers 61 00:03:56,766 --> 00:04:00,500 dispersed ever eastward 62 00:04:00,500 --> 00:04:03,800 and found themselves stepping 63 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:06,166 into a new land. 64 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:12,433 ♪ ♪ 65 00:04:18,666 --> 00:04:23,700 ♪ ♪ 66 00:04:32,533 --> 00:04:37,100 ♪ ♪ 67 00:04:37,100 --> 00:04:40,800 (gulls squawking) 68 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:43,200 If you were asked to conjure up in your mind 69 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:45,166 a world that was magical, 70 00:04:45,166 --> 00:04:47,400 that was pristine, that was primal, 71 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:49,966   you'd imagine something like this. 72 00:04:49,966 --> 00:04:52,466 The northwest coast of America 73 00:04:52,466 --> 00:04:55,233 absolutely takes your breath away. 74 00:04:55,233 --> 00:04:59,733 ♪ ♪ 75 00:04:59,733 --> 00:05:02,366 We don't know exactly when humans 76 00:05:02,366 --> 00:05:04,266 first arrived in North America. 77 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:08,333 Some archaeologists believe it was likely 78 00:05:08,333 --> 00:05:10,933 around 20,000 years ago, 79 00:05:10,933 --> 00:05:13,933 while others think there is evidence 80 00:05:13,933 --> 00:05:17,700 the first Americans were here thousands of years earlier. 81 00:05:18,866 --> 00:05:21,300 But either way, it was a time 82 00:05:21,300 --> 00:05:24,833 when the continent was much colder than today. 83 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:29,300 They were here at one of the coldest moments 84 00:05:29,300 --> 00:05:32,033 Homo sapiens had ever known. 85 00:05:33,300 --> 00:05:35,833 And the landscape would have looked so different. 86 00:05:35,833 --> 00:05:38,533 There would have been very few trees, 87 00:05:38,533 --> 00:05:41,433 and as far as the eye could see, 88 00:05:41,433 --> 00:05:45,200 there would have been barren, icy rock. 89 00:05:48,366 --> 00:05:52,333 They knew how to survive in the wide-open icy plains 90 00:05:52,333 --> 00:05:54,800 of Beringia, where they'd come from. 91 00:05:56,066 --> 00:06:00,833 But their new environment was different in a few crucial ways. 92 00:06:00,833 --> 00:06:06,100 ♪ ♪ 93 00:06:06,100 --> 00:06:08,400 The northern half of this continent 94 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:13,033 was covered in towering, impassable ice sheets 95 00:06:13,033 --> 00:06:17,800 reaching as far south as the Great Lakes. 96 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:20,433 From here, on the northwest coast, 97 00:06:20,433 --> 00:06:24,466 it blocked routes into the deep interior, 98 00:06:24,466 --> 00:06:27,700 mostly confining people to the ice-free land 99 00:06:27,700 --> 00:06:29,300 nearer the coast. 100 00:06:29,300 --> 00:06:34,200 ♪ ♪ 101 00:06:39,333 --> 00:06:41,666 All that's left from their time here 102 00:06:41,666 --> 00:06:45,400 are footprints, stone tools, and animal bones. 103 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:47,966 Now, we know that they sometimes would have hunted seal. 104 00:06:47,966 --> 00:06:49,566 They would have eaten fish. 105 00:06:49,566 --> 00:06:52,533 They would have eaten sea birds if they could catch them. 106 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:57,866 Only tiny fragments of evidence remain 107 00:06:57,866 --> 00:07:00,266 of the early inhabitants of this area... 108 00:07:00,266 --> 00:07:01,300 (slide projector clicks) 109 00:07:02,700 --> 00:07:05,633 ...that hint at how they survived. 110 00:07:05,633 --> 00:07:06,666 (slide projector clicks) 111 00:07:11,066 --> 00:07:14,366 ♪ ♪ 112 00:07:14,366 --> 00:07:17,533 And while the ocean off this northwest coast 113 00:07:17,533 --> 00:07:20,566 offered them sustenance... 114 00:07:21,900 --> 00:07:23,966 ...the strip of land between the shore 115 00:07:23,966 --> 00:07:29,533 and the ice sheets promised new opportunities to find food... 116 00:07:30,866 --> 00:07:35,000 ...but also hid unexpected new dangers. 117 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:40,033 ♪ ♪ 118 00:07:45,266 --> 00:07:46,566 (grunts) 119 00:07:46,566 --> 00:07:47,800 (inhales sharply) 120 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:51,133 This is a now-extinct predator, 121 00:07:51,133 --> 00:07:53,566 and it would have roamed these parts in the Northwest 122 00:07:53,566 --> 00:07:56,933 when the first people arrived in the Americas. 123 00:07:56,933 --> 00:07:59,333 And they actually call it the short-faced bear. 124 00:08:00,866 --> 00:08:03,700 And there is nothing short about this bear. 125 00:08:03,700 --> 00:08:06,800 When it stood on its hind legs, it would have been about 126 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:10,100 11, 12 feet tall, that's about four meters. 127 00:08:10,100 --> 00:08:11,966 And so, it would have made the grizzly bear 128 00:08:11,966 --> 00:08:13,966 look actually somewhat manageable. 129 00:08:15,266 --> 00:08:17,700 And then look at these teeth. 130 00:08:17,700 --> 00:08:19,433 Look at these canines. 131 00:08:19,433 --> 00:08:21,733 They're the stuff that nightmares are made of. 132 00:08:21,733 --> 00:08:25,400 And when it bumped into humans, 133 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:29,166 it must have been absolutely terrifying. 134 00:08:29,166 --> 00:08:32,533 And just like those humans, these bears, too, 135 00:08:32,533 --> 00:08:34,166 would have been hungry. 136 00:08:35,933 --> 00:08:39,266 ♪ ♪ 137 00:08:40,366 --> 00:08:44,100 The early people of the Northwest did not always run 138 00:08:44,100 --> 00:08:46,433 from the predators that roamed this land. 139 00:08:50,933 --> 00:08:56,166 Instead, it seems sometimes they went on the offensive. 140 00:08:57,300 --> 00:09:02,333 ♪ ♪ 141 00:09:14,633 --> 00:09:16,833 Evidence of this remains in caves 142 00:09:16,833 --> 00:09:19,366 along the Canadian coast. 143 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:37,500 Here, archaeologists sift 144 00:09:37,500 --> 00:09:39,133 through the muddy layers of time... 145 00:09:39,133 --> 00:09:41,000 DUNCAN MCLAREN: Is that what Jim had or... 146 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:43,833 AL-SHAMAHI: ...to find out more about the risks 147 00:09:43,833 --> 00:09:47,466 these early people took to survive. 148 00:09:53,033 --> 00:09:54,833 You know when people talk about archaeology? 149 00:09:54,833 --> 00:09:56,166 (laughs) Yes. 150 00:09:56,166 --> 00:09:58,833 At the back of a cave digging mud is... 151 00:09:58,833 --> 00:10:00,866 (laughs): ...is, this is the hard stuff. 152 00:10:00,866 --> 00:10:03,833 One thing that has been found in a number of caves 153 00:10:03,833 --> 00:10:07,166 on the northwest coast is, uh, 154 00:10:07,166 --> 00:10:10,066 spear points in association with bear bones. 155 00:10:10,066 --> 00:10:11,533 Yeah. And these date as far back 156 00:10:11,533 --> 00:10:13,566 as 13,000 years. Mm. 157 00:10:13,566 --> 00:10:16,233 Is, so, is this one of these spear points? 158 00:10:16,233 --> 00:10:18,766 This is a fragment of a spear point 159 00:10:18,766 --> 00:10:22,166 that was found in a cave not too far from here. Yeah. 160 00:10:25,566 --> 00:10:28,833 We have uncovered a bone in the wall of this unit, 161 00:10:28,833 --> 00:10:32,466 and it's 20 centimeters below the surface. 162 00:10:32,466 --> 00:10:36,366 And, uh, so, I'm going to pull it, and we'll see if it moves. 163 00:10:36,366 --> 00:10:38,466 All right. 164 00:10:38,466 --> 00:10:40,266 And we don't know what species it is 165 00:10:40,266 --> 00:10:41,733 or what bit of bone it is? 166 00:10:41,733 --> 00:10:44,266 Uh, there's not enough here to know for sure. Yeah, yeah. 167 00:10:44,266 --> 00:10:48,600 But it is a pretty big mammal, for certain. Oh, yeah. 168 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:51,266 Oh, it's not ending. (chuckles) 169 00:10:53,233 --> 00:10:56,766 Just make sure it slides out. 170 00:10:56,766 --> 00:10:58,666 Ah, it's a rib, isn't it? 171 00:10:58,666 --> 00:10:59,666 Looks like... Looks like a rib. 172 00:10:59,666 --> 00:11:00,733 Yeah. Yeah. 173 00:11:00,733 --> 00:11:05,066 So, that could be a bear rib. 174 00:11:05,066 --> 00:11:06,700 It's probably most likely what it is, 175 00:11:06,700 --> 00:11:09,166 'cause it's quite robust. 176 00:11:09,166 --> 00:11:10,833 How amazing. 177 00:11:10,833 --> 00:11:13,133 What age do you think it is? 178 00:11:13,133 --> 00:11:15,366 Well, we have some other samples 179 00:11:15,366 --> 00:11:18,566 from above where this bone is. Yeah. 180 00:11:18,566 --> 00:11:21,100 And they're coming back, uh, 181 00:11:21,100 --> 00:11:23,200 around 14,000 years old. Okay, so it's old. 182 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:26,000 So, it's, could be the same age or older. Yeah. 183 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:29,466 You know, one of the most wonderful things 184 00:11:29,466 --> 00:11:32,100 about archaeology is that 185 00:11:32,100 --> 00:11:33,166 sometimes you uncover something 186 00:11:33,166 --> 00:11:34,800 that hasn't seen the light of day 187 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:36,266 in thousands of years, 188 00:11:36,266 --> 00:11:37,833 and in this case, well, 189 00:11:37,833 --> 00:11:40,133 maybe 14,000 years. 190 00:11:40,133 --> 00:11:41,500 Well, we're interested 191 00:11:41,500 --> 00:11:44,033 in where bears were hunted in the past. 192 00:11:44,033 --> 00:11:46,866 And in the winter, when there's, 193 00:11:46,866 --> 00:11:48,766 there's not as many resources around, 194 00:11:48,766 --> 00:11:51,066 and people are feeling a bit hungry, 195 00:11:51,066 --> 00:11:53,633 knowing where there is a bear den 196 00:11:53,633 --> 00:11:55,066 is quite a valuable thing, 197 00:11:55,066 --> 00:12:00,133 'cause you can come up there and dispatch the bear. 198 00:12:00,133 --> 00:12:05,800 You'll have a load of meat, fur, as well as bones. 199 00:12:07,733 --> 00:12:10,566 AL-SHAMAHI: One theory of how they hunted bears 200 00:12:10,566 --> 00:12:13,433 comes from studies of the Native peoples 201 00:12:13,433 --> 00:12:17,066 of this region and North Asia in past centuries. 202 00:12:18,066 --> 00:12:21,433 MCLAREN: Essentially, a hunter would go 203 00:12:21,433 --> 00:12:23,066 with a, a party to a cave, 204 00:12:23,066 --> 00:12:26,300 smoke the bear out of the cave, 205 00:12:26,300 --> 00:12:31,966 and entice that bear to attack a single hunter. 206 00:12:31,966 --> 00:12:35,233 That hunter would be armed with a bracing spear. 207 00:12:35,233 --> 00:12:38,733 Uh, bear would come 208 00:12:38,733 --> 00:12:41,800 to take the hunter up in a bear hug, 209 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:43,766 which is a common thing that they do. Yeah. 210 00:12:43,766 --> 00:12:47,000 And the idea is, a bear would take that hunter 211 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:50,400 and essentially, give him a good crushing. 212 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:51,933 The hunter, at the same time, 213 00:12:51,933 --> 00:12:53,766 would brace the spear on the ground 214 00:12:53,766 --> 00:12:55,233 and aim it at the bear's heart. 215 00:12:55,233 --> 00:12:56,566 And so essentially... 216 00:12:56,566 --> 00:12:58,566 Oh. ...the bear would take the hunter and the spear 217 00:12:58,566 --> 00:13:00,733 into the bear hug, 218 00:13:00,733 --> 00:13:03,000 thereby spearing itself through the heart. 219 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:08,033 ♪ ♪ 220 00:13:14,866 --> 00:13:17,133 AL-SHAMAHI: A successful bear hunt could have meant 221 00:13:17,133 --> 00:13:19,066 food through the winter. 222 00:13:19,066 --> 00:13:24,733 ♪ ♪ 223 00:13:24,733 --> 00:13:29,100 But it was a risky way to make a living. 224 00:13:32,433 --> 00:13:35,000 ♪ ♪ 225 00:13:40,033 --> 00:13:43,866 Scientists have worked with the Tlingit people of Alaska 226 00:13:43,866 --> 00:13:46,666 to study the fascinating fossil remains 227 00:13:46,666 --> 00:13:49,466 of one of their ancestors 228 00:13:49,466 --> 00:13:52,066 who lived around 10,000 years ago. 229 00:13:52,066 --> 00:13:54,166 (slide projector clicks) 230 00:13:54,166 --> 00:13:56,866 And their elders gave this person a name. 231 00:13:56,866 --> 00:13:59,600 (slide projector clicks) 232 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:01,633 Shuká Káa. 233 00:14:07,966 --> 00:14:12,800 This is the bone cast of Shuká Káa's pelvis and jaw. 234 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:15,966 And there's so much we don't know about this person. 235 00:14:15,966 --> 00:14:17,733 We don't know about their family life. 236 00:14:17,733 --> 00:14:19,233 We don't know if they had children. 237 00:14:20,233 --> 00:14:22,700 But the amazing thing about bones 238 00:14:22,700 --> 00:14:25,666 is that they can tell a story if you know how to read them. 239 00:14:25,666 --> 00:14:28,533 We know that this individual was a male. 240 00:14:28,533 --> 00:14:30,966 We can tell that from various features, 241 00:14:30,966 --> 00:14:33,033 like the squareness here of the chin, 242 00:14:33,033 --> 00:14:37,433 like the back of the mandible, 243 00:14:37,433 --> 00:14:40,166 like the angle here, on the pelvis. 244 00:14:40,166 --> 00:14:42,100 On a female, you would typically expect 245 00:14:42,100 --> 00:14:43,733 that angle to be much wider. 246 00:14:44,833 --> 00:14:48,866 And it's kind of sad, because you can also tell 247 00:14:48,866 --> 00:14:51,933 quite a tragic story on the bones, as well. 248 00:14:51,933 --> 00:14:53,766 If you notice here... 249 00:14:54,933 --> 00:14:57,166 ...that is a puncture wound, 250 00:14:57,166 --> 00:15:01,500 and it fits quite well with the canine of a bear. 251 00:15:05,966 --> 00:15:09,433 Spear points found near Shuká Káa suggest 252 00:15:09,433 --> 00:15:13,933 he might have met his demise while hunting those bears. 253 00:15:18,533 --> 00:15:22,166 The dangers those humans faced in order to survive 254 00:15:22,166 --> 00:15:26,200 are hard to imagine for most of us in the modern day. 255 00:15:28,300 --> 00:15:32,266 But their relationship with nature had been slowly shifting. 256 00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:38,333 Thanks in part to a surprising helper 257 00:15:38,333 --> 00:15:41,133 that they may have brought with them. 258 00:15:41,133 --> 00:15:45,400 ♪ ♪ 259 00:15:49,466 --> 00:15:51,500 (wolves barking, howling) 260 00:15:51,500 --> 00:15:53,366 By hunting in packs, 261 00:15:53,366 --> 00:15:58,000 wolves can bring down prey far larger than themselves. 262 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,833 A person, especially on their own, 263 00:16:01,833 --> 00:16:03,633 would be highly vulnerable. 264 00:16:10,900 --> 00:16:12,800 SHELLY: Good girl, yeah! 265 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:15,900 It's unusual to have them all just around, hey? 266 00:16:17,633 --> 00:16:19,200 Okay, come on, let's go. 267 00:16:22,366 --> 00:16:26,366 AL-SHAMAHI: Wolves are, and always have been, wild animals. 268 00:16:29,666 --> 00:16:32,833 Shelly, am I able to come a bit closer? Yep. 269 00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:39,633 I think the question is how close? (chuckles) 270 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:45,633 It's funny, I can feel it in my shoulders. 271 00:16:45,633 --> 00:16:47,933 My shoulders are a little bit tense. 272 00:16:58,033 --> 00:16:59,466 (voiceover): But, given time, 273 00:16:59,466 --> 00:17:03,033 wolves are able to habituate to humans. 274 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:07,266 Hello. 275 00:17:07,266 --> 00:17:08,766 Hello. 276 00:17:13,500 --> 00:17:18,433 (voiceover): Perhaps beginning as far back as 40,000 years ago, 277 00:17:18,433 --> 00:17:20,466 probably in Siberia, 278 00:17:20,466 --> 00:17:23,133 before humans had even reached North America, 279 00:17:23,133 --> 00:17:25,933 the threat they faced from wolves 280 00:17:25,933 --> 00:17:29,433 began to transform into something different. 281 00:17:34,766 --> 00:17:36,500 Now, we're not exactly sure of the details, 282 00:17:36,500 --> 00:17:38,433 but it might have gone something like this. 283 00:17:38,433 --> 00:17:41,033 Wolves would gather around human campsites. 284 00:17:41,033 --> 00:17:43,933 Now, at first, maybe humans were terrified. 285 00:17:43,933 --> 00:17:47,000 Maybe they thought that they wanted to eat them. 286 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:48,866 But actually, some of those wolves 287 00:17:48,866 --> 00:17:50,800 weren't interested in that at all. 288 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:53,866 They were looking for scraps. 289 00:17:53,866 --> 00:17:55,433 And as they were doing that, 290 00:17:55,433 --> 00:17:58,966 maybe they started fending off other predators 291 00:17:58,966 --> 00:18:02,300 and protecting our combined territory. 292 00:18:02,300 --> 00:18:06,100 And because of this, humans started tolerating 293 00:18:06,100 --> 00:18:07,433 some of the least aggressive, 294 00:18:07,433 --> 00:18:08,566 some of the most docile of these. 295 00:18:08,566 --> 00:18:10,800 Maybe they even started feeding them. 296 00:18:14,266 --> 00:18:16,733 In more than one place and time, 297 00:18:16,733 --> 00:18:21,666 our ancestors reshaped wolves into dogs. 298 00:18:24,300 --> 00:18:27,233 And began to use them 299 00:18:27,233 --> 00:18:29,633 to guard our camps... 300 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:35,833 ...hunt prey, 301 00:18:35,833 --> 00:18:37,966 and pull sleds. 302 00:18:39,500 --> 00:18:42,533 Generation after generation, 303 00:18:42,533 --> 00:18:45,166 we selected the most docile animals 304 00:18:45,166 --> 00:18:47,666 and reared their pups... 305 00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:50,700 (dog barking) 306 00:18:50,700 --> 00:18:53,566 ...driving the evolution of a cooperative behavior 307 00:18:53,566 --> 00:18:55,700 that suited our needs. 308 00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:02,866 This marked a turning point for the human species. 309 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:08,733 Living with dogs helped us hunt for food and survive. 310 00:19:08,733 --> 00:19:12,300 It gave us this much-needed edge over hunger, 311 00:19:12,300 --> 00:19:15,366 but it also marked this profound 312 00:19:15,366 --> 00:19:18,000 and completely unprecedented shift 313 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:20,133 in our relationship with nature, 314 00:19:20,133 --> 00:19:22,833 because never before had any living thing, 315 00:19:22,833 --> 00:19:25,800 whether plant or animal, been domesticated. 316 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:28,366 This was a complete first. 317 00:19:28,366 --> 00:19:33,400 ♪ ♪ 318 00:19:37,100 --> 00:19:39,266 Domestication would later become 319 00:19:39,266 --> 00:19:43,600 a hugely important factor in our species' fortunes. 320 00:19:46,100 --> 00:19:50,933 But powerful forces far beyond the control of any human 321 00:19:50,933 --> 00:19:53,200 were about to open new passageways 322 00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:58,166 leading deeper into the North American continent. 323 00:20:01,633 --> 00:20:05,800 And as people migrated beyond the mountains and glaciers... 324 00:20:07,966 --> 00:20:12,466 ...they would be forced to find new ways to survive. 325 00:20:26,100 --> 00:20:31,166 ♪ ♪ 326 00:20:40,866 --> 00:20:44,966 ♪ ♪ 327 00:20:54,833 --> 00:20:59,866 ♪ ♪ 328 00:21:11,433 --> 00:21:13,300 The first people to enter into the Americas 329 00:21:13,300 --> 00:21:15,400 were coastal people in the Northwest. 330 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:18,000 But it's likely that they eventually traveled 331 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,500 incredibly rapidly 332 00:21:20,500 --> 00:21:24,200 down south, all the way to Central America, 333 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:29,133 and then carried on all the way to the tip of South America. 334 00:21:29,133 --> 00:21:32,366 Because remember, they were coastal people. 335 00:21:32,366 --> 00:21:35,366 It's likely that they were using some kind of seafaring methods. 336 00:21:37,933 --> 00:21:41,466 Very little evidence of these seafarers remains. 337 00:21:42,533 --> 00:21:45,533 Rising sea levels at the end of the ice age 338 00:21:45,533 --> 00:21:50,333 submerged many of the coastal sites they might have occupied. 339 00:21:51,333 --> 00:21:53,666 But it's thought that very early on, 340 00:21:53,666 --> 00:21:57,166 some of them would have branched off from this sea route 341 00:21:57,166 --> 00:21:59,266 and entered the continent. 342 00:22:00,700 --> 00:22:06,500 Then, around 15,000 years ago, the climate began to warm. 343 00:22:06,500 --> 00:22:11,000 The ice sheets and glaciers started to retreat, 344 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:12,700 and as they did, 345 00:22:12,700 --> 00:22:17,833 the last major barrier blocking routes into the continent fell, 346 00:22:17,833 --> 00:22:22,600 opening new routes in 347 00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:25,366 and triggering a fresh wave of human innovation. 348 00:22:27,300 --> 00:22:32,466 More people started traveling into the interior of the country 349 00:22:32,466 --> 00:22:36,600 and finding these completely new landscapes. 350 00:22:41,300 --> 00:22:44,633 Whether humans first reached the interior 351 00:22:44,633 --> 00:22:49,466 during the height of the ice age or thousands of years later, 352 00:22:49,466 --> 00:22:52,900 after the thaw, is still uncertain. 353 00:22:52,900 --> 00:22:57,100 But some of them left traces here in New Mexico. 354 00:22:57,100 --> 00:22:58,133 (slide projector clicks) 355 00:23:00,166 --> 00:23:02,833 Fossilized footprints. 356 00:23:02,833 --> 00:23:04,500 (slide projector clicks) 357 00:23:04,500 --> 00:23:07,166 Left in what was once the muddy shore 358 00:23:07,166 --> 00:23:09,100 of an ancient lake. 359 00:23:09,100 --> 00:23:12,866 ♪ ♪ 360 00:23:12,866 --> 00:23:14,700 They've become the subject 361 00:23:14,700 --> 00:23:16,966 of some of the most groundbreaking, 362 00:23:16,966 --> 00:23:20,966 but also most hotly debated, research in archaeology. 363 00:23:23,566 --> 00:23:26,800 Thousands of footprints have been found here, 364 00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:31,666 among them the prints of a small adult and toddler side by side, 365 00:23:31,666 --> 00:23:34,633 possibly a mother and child, 366 00:23:34,633 --> 00:23:37,300 discovered in 2018. 367 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:42,966 For a long time, the dominant theory had been 368 00:23:42,966 --> 00:23:45,600 that humans were not able to penetrate 369 00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:47,766 the interior of the continent 370 00:23:47,766 --> 00:23:51,300 until the northern ice sheets had retreated. 371 00:23:52,733 --> 00:23:56,600 That would mean the oldest these footprints could possibly be 372 00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:59,466 is around 14,000 years old. 373 00:24:01,066 --> 00:24:04,633 But dating research published in 2021 374 00:24:04,633 --> 00:24:06,866 suggested the footprints went back 375 00:24:06,866 --> 00:24:10,200 as far as 23,000 years ago. 376 00:24:12,766 --> 00:24:15,833 If true, it would mean humans were able 377 00:24:15,833 --> 00:24:19,666 to reach the North American interior 378 00:24:19,666 --> 00:24:21,200 almost 10,000 years earlier 379 00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:23,933 than many scientists had long believed. 380 00:24:25,300 --> 00:24:28,166 Well before the melting of the ice sheets. 381 00:24:31,233 --> 00:24:33,866 The very early dates are controversial. 382 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:37,966 Further research will be needed to confirm 383 00:24:37,966 --> 00:24:41,900 how old the White Sands footprints truly are. 384 00:24:43,433 --> 00:24:48,466 ♪ ♪ 385 00:24:50,766 --> 00:24:53,800 But the people who left them are likely 386 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:57,966 to have been part of one of the very earliest waves 387 00:24:57,966 --> 00:24:59,266 of what was to become 388 00:24:59,266 --> 00:25:03,766 thousands of years of human migration inland. 389 00:25:05,100 --> 00:25:10,133 ♪ ♪ 390 00:25:12,366 --> 00:25:16,600 Where there is now desert, they saw rich grasslands. 391 00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:30,000 The fossilized footprints of these continental pioneers 392 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:34,166 reveal what kind of a world they'd stepped into. 393 00:25:35,500 --> 00:25:37,133 These are the footprints 394 00:25:37,133 --> 00:25:39,166 of an actual human being 395 00:25:39,166 --> 00:25:42,000 who stood basically where I'm standing. 396 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,733 And we think she was a female. 397 00:25:44,733 --> 00:25:47,766 And if you look closely at those footprints, 398 00:25:47,766 --> 00:25:50,333 what you see is that at times, the footprints, 399 00:25:50,333 --> 00:25:52,500 they get broader and they slip a little in the mud. 400 00:25:52,500 --> 00:25:56,266 ♪ ♪ 401 00:26:00,533 --> 00:26:01,566 (slide projector clicks) 402 00:26:04,700 --> 00:26:08,600 And that's because she was carrying a child, 403 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:11,766 sometimes on this hip and sometimes on this hip. 404 00:26:24,466 --> 00:26:26,566 Then at other times, 405 00:26:26,566 --> 00:26:28,833 she stopped and put the child down, 406 00:26:28,833 --> 00:26:31,833 and you end up with two sets of footprints. 407 00:26:35,300 --> 00:26:36,900 (slide projector clicks) 408 00:26:41,433 --> 00:26:44,466 And she walked for at least a kilometer north 409 00:26:44,466 --> 00:26:46,533 and then heads back south. 410 00:26:46,533 --> 00:26:49,600 And I just can't think of anything more, 411 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:54,200 more human than a mother and a child walking together, 412 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:57,133 and a mother carrying her child. 413 00:26:57,133 --> 00:26:59,700 And it's interesting, 'cause this whole journey 414 00:26:59,700 --> 00:27:02,700 has been us tracing the footsteps 415 00:27:02,700 --> 00:27:05,066 of our ancient ancestors. 416 00:27:05,066 --> 00:27:07,366 And in a moment like this, 417 00:27:07,366 --> 00:27:09,566 that's actually literal. 418 00:27:09,566 --> 00:27:14,133 ♪ ♪ 419 00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:26,033 Archaeologists are finding more of these footprints 420 00:27:26,033 --> 00:27:30,166 hidden beneath the hard-packed sand. 421 00:27:30,166 --> 00:27:32,566 It's allowing us to piece together 422 00:27:32,566 --> 00:27:35,100 an ever more detailed snapshot 423 00:27:35,100 --> 00:27:38,900 of what happened in the moments captured here. 424 00:27:41,500 --> 00:27:43,433 MIKE STOWE: Let's see if we can define the footprint a little bit. 425 00:27:43,433 --> 00:27:45,066 MATTHEW BENNETT: Yeah. 426 00:27:45,066 --> 00:27:47,966 It's always scary when you start these things. 427 00:27:47,966 --> 00:27:49,166 You've got to 428 00:27:49,166 --> 00:27:51,433 take them out. 429 00:27:51,433 --> 00:27:52,533 STOWE: There's a subtle difference 430 00:27:52,533 --> 00:27:54,333 between the soil in the print. Yeah. 431 00:27:54,333 --> 00:27:56,000 BENNETT: It's looser. 432 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:57,133 It's a little damp, 433 00:27:57,133 --> 00:27:59,000 so it's gonna smear a bit today, 434 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:00,766 but it will come out. 435 00:28:04,466 --> 00:28:07,366 You see it so... 436 00:28:07,366 --> 00:28:08,633 So clearly. 437 00:28:08,633 --> 00:28:10,266 Okay, so how have you... 438 00:28:10,266 --> 00:28:12,433 So, you've just traced along the... 439 00:28:12,433 --> 00:28:14,600 I, I just, I've literally 440 00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:17,000 just broken the surface 441 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:18,733 with a dental pick. 442 00:28:18,733 --> 00:28:20,266 Yeah. 443 00:28:20,266 --> 00:28:21,733 And then, this particular example 444 00:28:21,733 --> 00:28:24,333 just brushes out with a little bit of encouragement. 445 00:28:24,333 --> 00:28:26,100 Yeah. You can see the 446 00:28:26,100 --> 00:28:28,866 contrast between the white... Yeah. 447 00:28:28,866 --> 00:28:30,033 ...and the fill in there. 448 00:28:30,033 --> 00:28:32,966 I'm removing the... AL-SHAMAHI: Wow. 449 00:28:32,966 --> 00:28:35,166 BENNETT: ...the sediment that's blown into the footprint. 450 00:28:37,333 --> 00:28:38,666 So, we think she was walking quite quickly, then? 451 00:28:38,666 --> 00:28:42,233 Yeah, she's walking at about 1.6, something like, 452 00:28:42,233 --> 00:28:44,266 meters per second. Wow. 453 00:28:44,266 --> 00:28:45,933 And, and a comfortable, normal sort of walk 454 00:28:45,933 --> 00:28:48,566 is about 1.3 to 1.5. 455 00:28:48,566 --> 00:28:51,066 So, she, she's moving, and this surface is wet. 456 00:28:51,066 --> 00:28:52,700 It's slippy. 457 00:28:52,700 --> 00:28:54,333 We do know that this was a, a mission. 458 00:28:54,333 --> 00:28:56,700 They were on a mission. Yeah. 459 00:28:56,700 --> 00:28:58,166 They were moving quickly. Yeah. 460 00:28:58,166 --> 00:28:59,633 At speed, for whatever reason. 461 00:28:59,633 --> 00:29:03,133 And the footprint, um, tells that story. 462 00:29:03,133 --> 00:29:05,966 ♪ ♪ 463 00:29:05,966 --> 00:29:10,366 AL-SHAMAHI: We don't know why these humans were in such a hurry. 464 00:29:11,966 --> 00:29:15,266 ♪ ♪ 465 00:29:19,733 --> 00:29:22,466 But the footprints here at White Sands 466 00:29:22,466 --> 00:29:26,100 can tell us more about the world they were living in... 467 00:29:27,766 --> 00:29:32,166 ...because theirs were not the only footprints found. 468 00:29:39,966 --> 00:29:42,233 Criss-crossing the human footprints 469 00:29:42,233 --> 00:29:44,933 are tracks from a giant sloth. 470 00:29:47,833 --> 00:29:50,433 And other nearby footprints 471 00:29:50,433 --> 00:29:54,600 include those left by mammoths, 472 00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:57,566 each one around two feet in diameter. 473 00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:01,333 This landscape would've been filled 474 00:30:01,333 --> 00:30:04,633 with mammoth and mastodon and saber-toothed cats, 475 00:30:04,633 --> 00:30:07,066 just huge animals. 476 00:30:07,066 --> 00:30:09,100 They would have dwarfed us. 477 00:30:09,100 --> 00:30:13,000 The mammoth alone would stand at about four meters high, 478 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:15,366 that's about 13 feet, at the shoulders, 479 00:30:15,366 --> 00:30:18,400 and the mastodon were only slightly smaller. 480 00:30:19,666 --> 00:30:24,400 For the humans here, this was their new world. 481 00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:26,533 (slide projector clicks) 482 00:30:27,966 --> 00:30:30,100 The early people of the Plains... 483 00:30:30,100 --> 00:30:31,100 (slide projector clicks) 484 00:30:31,100 --> 00:30:33,433 ...probably would have given 485 00:30:33,433 --> 00:30:36,266 these prehistoric mammals... 486 00:30:36,266 --> 00:30:38,766 (slide projector clicks) ...a wide berth. 487 00:30:41,233 --> 00:30:44,733 (birds calling) 488 00:30:46,066 --> 00:30:48,233 ♪ ♪ 489 00:30:48,233 --> 00:30:51,366 But they must have realized that those animals 490 00:30:51,366 --> 00:30:53,966 also represented opportunity. 491 00:30:57,133 --> 00:31:01,966 That these giants could provide them with food. 492 00:31:04,533 --> 00:31:07,933 But how on Earth could people hunt them? 493 00:31:11,933 --> 00:31:15,200 One animal still exists which gives us a sense 494 00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:17,200 of just how difficult that would have been. 495 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:23,533 ♪ ♪ 496 00:31:25,566 --> 00:31:31,366 This beast can sprint at up to 40 miles per hour. 497 00:31:31,366 --> 00:31:34,866 The male's horns are over two feet long. 498 00:31:37,466 --> 00:31:39,500 And 14,000 years ago, 499 00:31:39,500 --> 00:31:44,566 these bison had an even bigger prehistoric relative 500 00:31:44,566 --> 00:31:46,933 roaming these parts. 501 00:31:49,066 --> 00:31:51,866 (whispering): Absolutely incredible, 502 00:31:51,866 --> 00:31:56,166 but they're also so big. 503 00:31:56,166 --> 00:31:59,333 They're about one ton in size. 504 00:31:59,333 --> 00:32:04,000 And the giant bison, the one that's now extinct, 505 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:05,166 but would have been around back then, 506 00:32:05,166 --> 00:32:09,400 was up to 50, 50% bigger. 507 00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:12,266 ♪ ♪ 508 00:32:12,266 --> 00:32:14,800 To hunt those prehistoric bison, 509 00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:18,533 and the even larger megafauna that dwarfed them, 510 00:32:18,533 --> 00:32:20,466 early hunters likely used 511 00:32:20,466 --> 00:32:23,433 a number of different strategies. 512 00:32:23,433 --> 00:32:25,133 But many of these 513 00:32:25,133 --> 00:32:27,666 would have relied on getting close enough 514 00:32:27,666 --> 00:32:29,966 to deal a powerful spear thrust. 515 00:32:29,966 --> 00:32:35,833 ♪ ♪ 516 00:32:40,266 --> 00:32:43,700 ♪ ♪ 517 00:32:47,333 --> 00:32:52,166 (animals roaring and bellowing) 518 00:32:52,166 --> 00:32:54,733 Many hunts would have ended... 519 00:32:54,733 --> 00:32:56,633 (animal roaring) 520 00:32:56,633 --> 00:32:58,666 ...in failure. 521 00:33:02,233 --> 00:33:06,933 But we know sometimes they succeeded, 522 00:33:06,933 --> 00:33:09,600 because they left a massive clue. 523 00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:10,633 (slide projector clicks) 524 00:33:14,433 --> 00:33:17,633 Skeletons of megafauna. 525 00:33:17,633 --> 00:33:18,666 (slide projector clicks) 526 00:33:20,133 --> 00:33:23,866 Some clearly killed by humans. 527 00:33:25,733 --> 00:33:28,800 Humans would have exploited some megafauna, 528 00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:31,300 some large land animals, on the coast. 529 00:33:31,300 --> 00:33:33,900 But it was once they hit the interior 530 00:33:33,900 --> 00:33:37,233 that they saw them on a scale like something else 531 00:33:37,233 --> 00:33:39,166 in terms of their sheer numbers, 532 00:33:39,166 --> 00:33:40,833 in terms of their diversity. 533 00:33:40,833 --> 00:33:43,733 ♪ ♪ 534 00:33:43,733 --> 00:33:45,266 We don't know for sure 535 00:33:45,266 --> 00:33:48,066 how dependent the early North Americans were 536 00:33:48,066 --> 00:33:51,200 on hunting the megafauna. 537 00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:53,966 ♪ ♪ 538 00:33:53,966 --> 00:33:58,333 Or exactly how they hunted those giant animals. 539 00:33:58,333 --> 00:34:03,733 ♪ ♪ 540 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:07,833 But they offered a huge potential source of meat 541 00:34:07,833 --> 00:34:10,366 for people to eat. 542 00:34:12,733 --> 00:34:17,833 And it seems that hunting was shaping society here. 543 00:34:21,466 --> 00:34:26,500 ♪ ♪ 544 00:34:28,500 --> 00:34:30,800 This is absolutely stunning. 545 00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:34,100 It's one of the most striking spearheads I've ever seen. 546 00:34:34,100 --> 00:34:35,500 It's... 547 00:34:35,500 --> 00:34:38,133 It's so well-crafted, and it shines, 548 00:34:38,133 --> 00:34:40,400 and it looks like it was made of glass, 549 00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:42,866 but actually, it's made of quartz, 550 00:34:42,866 --> 00:34:44,733 and it's sharp. 551 00:34:44,733 --> 00:34:47,533 And yet, it doesn't have any signs 552 00:34:47,533 --> 00:34:49,433 that it was actually ever used. 553 00:34:49,433 --> 00:34:52,933 And that, along with the fact that it's so beautiful, 554 00:34:52,933 --> 00:34:54,733 suggests that it was ceremonial. 555 00:34:54,733 --> 00:34:57,200 Now, when you've got an everyday object, 556 00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:01,500 and it's made to look so, so beautiful and so striking, 557 00:35:01,500 --> 00:35:05,066 it implies that it had become a symbol. 558 00:35:05,066 --> 00:35:06,366 We're not sure of what. 559 00:35:06,366 --> 00:35:08,133 Perhaps of how important hunting was, 560 00:35:08,133 --> 00:35:10,433 but perhaps of a cultural identity, 561 00:35:10,433 --> 00:35:12,433 perhaps of who they were. 562 00:35:13,866 --> 00:35:19,566 ♪ ♪ 563 00:35:25,733 --> 00:35:29,533 Feasts could bring different communities together 564 00:35:29,533 --> 00:35:31,900 and cement social ties. 565 00:35:36,833 --> 00:35:40,800 Sharing meat would have fostered cooperation. 566 00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:45,833 ♪ ♪ 567 00:35:49,933 --> 00:35:53,333 The megafauna may have been a central part 568 00:35:53,333 --> 00:35:55,400 of people's culture. 569 00:35:59,066 --> 00:36:02,433 ♪ ♪ 570 00:36:05,733 --> 00:36:09,400 But their world was changing. 571 00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:15,400 ♪ ♪ 572 00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:18,200 The end of the ice age had created 573 00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:22,966 a warm world of plenty across much of the continent, 574 00:36:22,966 --> 00:36:26,900 and that shift was now beginning to have an effect 575 00:36:26,900 --> 00:36:29,266 they could not have foreseen. 576 00:36:32,733 --> 00:36:35,800 It's thought that melting ice at the poles 577 00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:37,866 disrupted ocean currents. 578 00:36:39,633 --> 00:36:42,000 And just as the world was entering 579 00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:44,466 a long-term warmer period, 580 00:36:44,466 --> 00:36:47,533 average temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere 581 00:36:47,533 --> 00:36:52,300 unexpectedly cooled by several degrees Fahrenheit. 582 00:36:52,300 --> 00:36:54,466 Across North America, 583 00:36:54,466 --> 00:36:56,700 the vegetation had begun to alter 584 00:36:56,700 --> 00:36:59,733 in a number of different ways. 585 00:37:01,900 --> 00:37:04,900 In some areas, trees and shrubs 586 00:37:04,900 --> 00:37:08,700 began to replace grassland and tundra. 587 00:37:08,700 --> 00:37:09,733 (slide projector clicks) 588 00:37:11,166 --> 00:37:13,633 Woolly mammoths could not effectively 589 00:37:13,633 --> 00:37:17,266 chew or digest these woodier plants. 590 00:37:18,266 --> 00:37:20,166 (insects buzzing) 591 00:37:20,166 --> 00:37:24,700 And as their environments transformed, 592 00:37:24,700 --> 00:37:28,166 the giant herbivores declined. 593 00:37:30,633 --> 00:37:32,400 (insects buzzing) 594 00:37:33,766 --> 00:37:35,666 Over just a few hundred years, 595 00:37:35,666 --> 00:37:39,700 three-quarters of the large mammal species in North America 596 00:37:39,700 --> 00:37:41,766 became extinct, 597 00:37:41,766 --> 00:37:44,466 vanishing forever. 598 00:37:44,466 --> 00:37:49,433 ♪ ♪ 599 00:37:49,433 --> 00:37:51,033 Now, the main cause 600 00:37:51,033 --> 00:37:52,566 of the giant megafaunal extinction 601 00:37:52,566 --> 00:37:53,866 is climate change. 602 00:37:53,866 --> 00:37:57,766 But it's likely that human hunting played a role, 603 00:37:57,766 --> 00:37:59,933 that it was this final nail in the coffin. 604 00:37:59,933 --> 00:38:05,033 ♪ ♪ 605 00:38:09,133 --> 00:38:14,933 The largest megafauna, that had been such a big part 606 00:38:14,933 --> 00:38:21,133 of these humans' lifestyle, culture, and their landscape... 607 00:38:24,066 --> 00:38:26,300 ...were now gone. 608 00:38:33,366 --> 00:38:38,400 Bison, deer, and smaller game survived the climate upheaval, 609 00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:40,700 and people continued to hunt them. 610 00:38:41,700 --> 00:38:43,633 But it's likely 611 00:38:43,633 --> 00:38:47,333 those people who relied most on the megafauna for food 612 00:38:47,333 --> 00:38:49,366 would have now shifted 613 00:38:49,366 --> 00:38:53,466 to exploiting a greater variety of resources. 614 00:38:55,200 --> 00:38:56,766 One of which is something 615 00:38:56,766 --> 00:38:59,933 I personally would struggle with. 616 00:39:01,733 --> 00:39:03,366 People needed to branch out 617 00:39:03,366 --> 00:39:06,000 and exploit every part of the food chain, 618 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:08,600 all the way through to something 619 00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:10,766 you probably don't think of as food. 620 00:39:10,766 --> 00:39:12,100 And that's acorns. 621 00:39:12,100 --> 00:39:14,800 Now, these are incredibly bitter, 622 00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:16,366 because they're full of tannic acid. 623 00:39:16,366 --> 00:39:17,600 And to get rid of some of that, 624 00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:20,066 what they would do is, they would firstly 625 00:39:20,066 --> 00:39:22,600 get rid of the shells. 626 00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:24,300 And then they would 627 00:39:24,300 --> 00:39:29,500 grind the nuts up with water 628 00:39:29,500 --> 00:39:32,666 in the hopes of getting rid of some of that bitterness. 629 00:39:32,666 --> 00:39:35,800 It's likely that the flour from these 630 00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:37,233 and the paste from these 631 00:39:37,233 --> 00:39:39,600 were some of the earliest processed plant food. 632 00:39:39,600 --> 00:39:42,266 We actually have some of the grinding stones 633 00:39:42,266 --> 00:39:44,533 preserved in the archaeological record. 634 00:39:44,533 --> 00:39:46,300 And if you look at all this, 635 00:39:46,300 --> 00:39:49,466 it seems so clever, it seems so inventive. 636 00:39:49,466 --> 00:39:52,066 And yet, it's a lot of effort to go to. 637 00:39:52,066 --> 00:39:57,033 ♪ ♪ 638 00:39:57,033 --> 00:40:00,633 But soon, humans across the world 639 00:40:00,633 --> 00:40:03,633 would invent a completely different way 640 00:40:03,633 --> 00:40:06,566 to feed themselves. 641 00:40:06,566 --> 00:40:12,600 ♪ ♪ 642 00:40:17,300 --> 00:40:20,900 And in the Americas, it's thought this began 643 00:40:20,900 --> 00:40:24,066 in tropical forests to the south. 644 00:40:24,066 --> 00:40:29,100 ♪ ♪ 645 00:40:39,133 --> 00:40:44,166 ♪ ♪ 646 00:40:45,666 --> 00:40:48,866 Tropical forests are places of rich bounty, 647 00:40:48,866 --> 00:40:51,200 but where the earliest inhabitants 648 00:40:51,200 --> 00:40:54,700 had to make their food choices with great care. 649 00:40:58,433 --> 00:41:01,633 This place, it has... 650 00:41:01,633 --> 00:41:03,466 It has real challenges. 651 00:41:03,466 --> 00:41:06,900 There are plants, so many of them look edible, 652 00:41:06,900 --> 00:41:10,833 and yet some of them are definitely poisonous. 653 00:41:10,833 --> 00:41:13,766 It requires a process of trial and error 654 00:41:13,766 --> 00:41:15,933 to find the actual food. 655 00:41:19,033 --> 00:41:20,600 It was in a forest-- 656 00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:25,600 archaeologists think in present-day Mexico-- 657 00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:29,000 that a momentous change took place. 658 00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:33,000 And it began with the simplest of actions. 659 00:41:34,466 --> 00:41:36,033 Every so often, 660 00:41:36,033 --> 00:41:38,100 someone would have come across 661 00:41:38,100 --> 00:41:39,833 a plant that was safe to eat 662 00:41:39,833 --> 00:41:44,900 and would have sought out more of it. 663 00:41:44,900 --> 00:41:47,700 (birds chirping) 664 00:41:49,033 --> 00:41:50,466 An example of this 665 00:41:50,466 --> 00:41:53,533 is this grass, called teosinte. 666 00:41:53,533 --> 00:41:57,933 Now, the seeds are incredibly small and hard, 667 00:41:57,933 --> 00:42:00,800 but they can be ground up into an edible flour. 668 00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:05,066 So, that same ingenuity that humans brought to acorns 669 00:42:05,066 --> 00:42:07,300 they were now bringing to this grass. 670 00:42:07,300 --> 00:42:12,666 ♪ ♪ 671 00:42:12,666 --> 00:42:15,400 Where people found teosinte growing, 672 00:42:15,400 --> 00:42:20,533 they encouraged it by weeding out other plants 673 00:42:20,533 --> 00:42:23,666 and collected the seeds for food. 674 00:42:23,666 --> 00:42:27,100 This may have continued for centuries. 675 00:42:29,433 --> 00:42:33,566 Until one individual would have become 676 00:42:33,566 --> 00:42:35,900 the first person in the Americas 677 00:42:35,900 --> 00:42:38,400 to do something completely original 678 00:42:38,400 --> 00:42:40,600 with a teosinte seed. 679 00:42:43,833 --> 00:42:48,833 ♪ ♪ 680 00:43:01,100 --> 00:43:04,933 There is something so magical 681 00:43:04,933 --> 00:43:06,366 about planting a seed, 682 00:43:06,366 --> 00:43:09,833 watering it, and hoping 683 00:43:09,833 --> 00:43:11,766 that it sprouts and becomes 684 00:43:11,766 --> 00:43:14,800 a tiny, little, delicate green shoot. 685 00:43:21,133 --> 00:43:23,033 And there would've been 686 00:43:23,033 --> 00:43:27,766 somebody who planted the very, very first seed. 687 00:43:27,766 --> 00:43:30,133 And they would've, they would've known 688 00:43:30,133 --> 00:43:34,000 that it would require effort and care 689 00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:35,500 and protection from herbivores 690 00:43:35,500 --> 00:43:37,933 if it was to ever become something big enough 691 00:43:37,933 --> 00:43:39,466 to feed their families with. 692 00:43:41,033 --> 00:43:44,133 And anybody who's ever had 693 00:43:44,133 --> 00:43:47,833 an allotment or a garden or a balcony 694 00:43:47,833 --> 00:43:50,600 knows how much care and commitment goes into it. 695 00:43:50,600 --> 00:43:55,633 ♪ ♪ 696 00:44:01,100 --> 00:44:04,633 This was an idea whose time had come. 697 00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:14,666 Because it wasn't only happening in the Americas. 698 00:44:14,666 --> 00:44:17,900 Humans all over the planet 699 00:44:17,900 --> 00:44:22,433 were starting to plant seeds and grow them for food. 700 00:44:22,433 --> 00:44:26,533 And it was an experiment that was beginning to pay off. 701 00:44:28,633 --> 00:44:32,133 Because across the world, the people who did this 702 00:44:32,133 --> 00:44:34,766 were creating a more predictable way 703 00:44:34,766 --> 00:44:37,300 of feeding their families, 704 00:44:37,300 --> 00:44:42,366 triggering a pivotal moment for our species. 705 00:44:44,166 --> 00:44:47,333 ♪ ♪ 706 00:44:47,333 --> 00:44:50,400 In different places all over the Earth, 707 00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:54,266 humans were inventing farming. 708 00:44:55,633 --> 00:44:58,966 Probably first around 10,000 years ago, 709 00:44:58,966 --> 00:45:01,733 in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East, 710 00:45:01,733 --> 00:45:05,133 where they domesticated wheat. 711 00:45:05,133 --> 00:45:08,200 Then rice in China. 712 00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:14,966 Sugarcane in New Guinea. 713 00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:19,900 Farming emerged independently 714 00:45:19,900 --> 00:45:23,466 in separate locations across the globe, 715 00:45:23,466 --> 00:45:27,766 Central and South America among the first. 716 00:45:30,033 --> 00:45:34,666 Farming was a way for humans to actively manage nature 717 00:45:34,666 --> 00:45:38,333 in a way we'd never done before. 718 00:45:38,333 --> 00:45:39,833 Here in the Americas, 719 00:45:39,833 --> 00:45:43,366 people created what would become 720 00:45:43,366 --> 00:45:46,333 one of the three most important staple crops 721 00:45:46,333 --> 00:45:49,100 for feeding the world. 722 00:45:49,100 --> 00:45:53,033 Because as the early farmers planted and harvested teosinte, 723 00:45:53,033 --> 00:45:58,933 they began to shape it into a new kind of plant. 724 00:45:58,933 --> 00:46:01,800 Every so often, a genetic mutation 725 00:46:01,800 --> 00:46:03,733 would arise in teosinte 726 00:46:03,733 --> 00:46:07,066 that would actually be quite beneficial for humans. 727 00:46:07,066 --> 00:46:09,800 That would give rise to, say, larger seeds, 728 00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:12,533 or more seeds, or sweeter seeds. 729 00:46:12,533 --> 00:46:14,766 And perhaps most important of all, 730 00:46:14,766 --> 00:46:17,166 would get rid of the hard seed covering, 731 00:46:17,166 --> 00:46:21,000 and humans started selecting for these better varieties. 732 00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:23,266 And over thousands of years, 733 00:46:23,266 --> 00:46:25,933 they created something new 734 00:46:25,933 --> 00:46:29,566 that looked very different from teosinte, 735 00:46:29,566 --> 00:46:32,600 because they created maize. 736 00:46:34,266 --> 00:46:37,066 It was no longer a wild plant. 737 00:46:37,066 --> 00:46:40,200 It was now a domesticated crop. 738 00:46:40,200 --> 00:46:43,633 ♪ ♪ 739 00:46:47,666 --> 00:46:52,166 The invention of farming in different parts of the world 740 00:46:52,166 --> 00:46:56,733 was to set in motion a monumental global change 741 00:46:56,733 --> 00:47:00,100 that would go far beyond how we fed ourselves. 742 00:47:00,100 --> 00:47:05,500 ♪ ♪ 743 00:47:05,500 --> 00:47:07,833 Because although there was a variety 744 00:47:07,833 --> 00:47:10,333 of semi-nomadic lifestyles 745 00:47:10,333 --> 00:47:14,133 in which people now used domesticated plants 746 00:47:14,133 --> 00:47:16,200 in different ways, 747 00:47:16,200 --> 00:47:19,900 they all had one feature in common. 748 00:47:22,633 --> 00:47:24,966 Even if you went away for some time 749 00:47:24,966 --> 00:47:28,066 to hunt or gather other foods, 750 00:47:28,066 --> 00:47:31,400 to benefit from the crops you'd planted, 751 00:47:31,400 --> 00:47:37,266 you eventually had to return to the place you'd sown them. 752 00:47:39,866 --> 00:47:43,400 ♪ ♪ 753 00:47:43,400 --> 00:47:47,133 The clue is in that word: plant. 754 00:47:47,133 --> 00:47:49,700 To be put down in one place. 755 00:47:49,700 --> 00:47:53,266 And just like the plants that they grew, 756 00:47:53,266 --> 00:47:57,300 those early farmers would've had to have adopted 757 00:47:57,300 --> 00:47:59,066 a very similar lifestyle, 758 00:47:59,066 --> 00:48:02,633 because you couldn't exactly keep moving 759 00:48:02,633 --> 00:48:05,333 if you had to tend to your crops. 760 00:48:05,333 --> 00:48:07,833 And so, for the very first time 761 00:48:07,833 --> 00:48:11,000 since the birth of Homo sapiens, 762 00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:14,533 we were no longer a completely nomadic species. 763 00:48:14,533 --> 00:48:18,066 More and more of us were quite literally 764 00:48:18,066 --> 00:48:20,466 putting down roots. 765 00:48:20,466 --> 00:48:25,400 ♪ ♪ 766 00:48:25,400 --> 00:48:28,766 Farming supercharged our capacity 767 00:48:28,766 --> 00:48:32,400 to fuel human activity, 768 00:48:32,400 --> 00:48:36,600 and what emerged was extraordinary. 769 00:48:36,600 --> 00:48:42,566 ♪ ♪ 770 00:48:42,566 --> 00:48:45,333 Here in Peru, there's a place 771 00:48:45,333 --> 00:48:49,266 where one group began a new way of living 772 00:48:49,266 --> 00:48:52,433 on a scale unprecedented in the Americas. 773 00:48:52,433 --> 00:48:56,466 ♪ ♪ 774 00:49:06,400 --> 00:49:09,300 The stepped pyramids of Caral 775 00:49:09,300 --> 00:49:12,466 were once lost under the desert sand. 776 00:49:18,100 --> 00:49:21,666 Archaeologists have uncovered a vast complex 777 00:49:21,666 --> 00:49:24,133 of ancient structures. 778 00:49:26,300 --> 00:49:29,600 The remains of what's thought to have been 779 00:49:29,600 --> 00:49:34,200 the first city in the Americas. 780 00:49:34,200 --> 00:49:36,833 And what made it possible 781 00:49:36,833 --> 00:49:40,166 to build these extraordinary edifices 782 00:49:40,166 --> 00:49:45,000 were the fields of crops that surrounded them. 783 00:49:46,800 --> 00:49:52,066 Caral became an immense hub for trading harvested maize, 784 00:49:52,066 --> 00:49:56,066 cotton, and fish from the coast. 785 00:49:56,066 --> 00:50:01,466 It represented a new path humans could take 786 00:50:01,466 --> 00:50:03,733 towards permanence and stability 787 00:50:03,733 --> 00:50:07,766 that would become possible because of agriculture. 788 00:50:07,766 --> 00:50:10,200 ♪ ♪ 789 00:50:10,200 --> 00:50:14,000 But it's likely many of the people in this region 790 00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:18,400 at that time still lived as hunter-gatherers. 791 00:50:18,400 --> 00:50:22,500 And as they gazed upon this new way to exist, 792 00:50:22,500 --> 00:50:24,400 would they have wondered 793 00:50:24,400 --> 00:50:27,666 if this was the choice they wanted to make? 794 00:50:30,000 --> 00:50:31,966 I just can't help but think, 795 00:50:31,966 --> 00:50:33,933 what would it have been like 796 00:50:33,933 --> 00:50:38,033 for people visiting it for the first time back then? 797 00:50:38,033 --> 00:50:43,033 Because they would've never seen a city before. 798 00:50:43,033 --> 00:50:44,533 It must have been so alien to them, 799 00:50:44,533 --> 00:50:46,766 it must've looked like a place from a different world. 800 00:50:51,366 --> 00:50:55,466 This was a commitment to a static way of life. 801 00:50:55,466 --> 00:50:58,033 And yet, we don't consider 802 00:50:58,033 --> 00:51:01,266 how tumultuous the process might have been, 803 00:51:01,266 --> 00:51:05,033 how much social upheaval might have been involved. 804 00:51:05,033 --> 00:51:09,400 Because for those who chose to lead this life, 805 00:51:09,400 --> 00:51:13,533 it must have come with a huge cultural shift, 806 00:51:13,533 --> 00:51:17,233 because humans were becoming an urban species 807 00:51:17,233 --> 00:51:18,966 for the very first time. 808 00:51:21,400 --> 00:51:26,800 Humans around the planet stood at a crossroads. 809 00:51:26,800 --> 00:51:31,600 For most of the 300,000 years our species had existed, 810 00:51:31,600 --> 00:51:33,733 we followed a variety 811 00:51:33,733 --> 00:51:37,100 of nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles. 812 00:51:37,100 --> 00:51:40,700 But in the space of just a few millennia, 813 00:51:40,700 --> 00:51:45,833 a completely new way to live had become possible. 814 00:51:45,833 --> 00:51:49,533 Farming in settlements offered humans an alternative 815 00:51:49,533 --> 00:51:54,033 to lives spent hunting and gathering as nomads. 816 00:51:54,033 --> 00:51:58,566 It was the dawn of a new era 817 00:51:58,566 --> 00:52:03,433 that would transform the world forever. 818 00:52:05,200 --> 00:52:08,466 ♪ ♪ 819 00:52:26,133 --> 00:52:29,000 ♪ ♪ 820 00:52:29,933 --> 00:52:37,466 ♪ ♪ 821 00:52:41,300 --> 00:52:48,833 ♪ ♪ 822 00:52:52,666 --> 00:53:00,266 ♪ ♪ 823 00:53:01,900 --> 00:53:09,433 ♪ ♪ 824 00:53:11,066 --> 00:53:18,600 ♪ ♪ 60811

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