All language subtitles for Neanderthal.Apocalypse.Part.1.ALTERNATiVE.CUT.720p.HEVC.x265-MeGusta

They roamed the planet
for longer than modern man...

Neanderthals.

Neanderthals were superb survivors.

They survived
in a treacherous world...

They really dominated
ice-age Europe.

fearless hunters
who possessed superior strength

and surprisingly advanced tools.

It's perhaps one of
the most efficient technologies

we've ever seen
in the entire Stone Age.

But then suddenly, they vanished
and no one knows why.

It's still
one of the most wondrous mysteries.

Was it a clash with modern humans?

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This may be the best case
of a Neanderthal murder victim.

Around the globe
scientists are searching for answers.

This is a modern human
with Neanderthal features.

And they find clues
in unlikely places -

an ancient volcano site
In southern Italy...

The ground at the moment is rising.

..in the Greenland ice sheet,

far from the grounds
where Neanderthals once settled.

There's a cluster in here
thin layers.

Mounting evidence
reveals a surprising new theory -

it was not war with modern man
that killed off the Neanderthals.

It was an apocalypse...
That's the ash. That is the ash.

..that might have sealed the fate
of our closest human relatives.

And what happened to them
could easily happen to us.

Gibraltar,
at the tip of the Iberian peninsula.

Here along the Mediterranean coast,

a vast complex of caves
dot the shoreline.

Today, waves encroach upon them.

But 24,000 years ago, with the height
of the last ice age fast approaching,

the sea level
was more than 100 feet lower.

This was dry land,

home to the very last
of the Neanderthals.

When we look at the number of sites

with Neanderthal fossils
and/or evidence of occupation,

I don't think there's any place
in the world

that has the density of sites per
square kilometre that Gibraltar has.

Gibraltar was their stronghold.

This is where
the population was continuous.

It was a place that they lived and
liked and survived for a long time.

The conditions there were good

and because they were so good they
persisted longer than anywhere else.

In this enclave,
amid forests of pine,

hunters search for prey.

Along the shore Neanderthals fish,

living as they have
for generations before...

unaware that they are
the last of a dying breed.

They probably didn't realise,

when their neighbouring group
further north disappeared,

that they were
on the verge of extinction.

They had no way of knowing that.

Once their species flourished
across Europe and Asia.

Now their population has dwindled
to just a few clans

here in the south
of the Iberian peninsula.

But what ultimately drove
the Neanderthal to extinction?

The Gibraltar caves
may hold some clues.

Palaeontologists
Clive and Geraldine Finlayson

have studied this site for many years

and are leading
a massive excavation effort.

So these caves here all lined up,
it's almost like a Neanderthal city.

This is a place where Neanderthals
were living for a long time,

occupying all of them.

Some cases now the sea's gone in
and we've lost the evidence.

But we still have a lot of material
there for excavation.

Inside the caves

teams of archaeologists search
for remnants of Neanderthal's past...

Everything about the cave
looks right for a Neanderthal.

We sort of get a feeling
for these things.

They're unearthing
bones and remains,

as well as tools and artefacts,
linked to Neanderthal

by their distinct shapes
and craftsmanship.

(Speaks Maltese)

So this piece, this is a core.

And they'll use this
to extract flakes from it.

This is a technique that can be
associated with Neanderthals.

With every find

they are gaining new insights
into the Neanderthal themselves.

Here we have the remains
of a campfire from the Neanderthals,

radiocarbon-dated
to about 47,000 years ago.

You can see
the concentration of charcoal,

particularly here
in the centre of the fire.

Makes a fantastic resource for us
because we can date it

but also we can dissect the charcoal

and find out the plants
that were growing up there.

So it's fantastic.

So 47,000 years ago for some reason,
this is the place they liked.

Maybe it was
a mild climate out there

but they were sufficiently sheltered

and the Neanderthals
were sitting here.

And we've found remains of deer
and other animals they'd been eating

and they had a big fire going here.

Here, for generations,

Neanderthal families
gathered around the fire

and prepared meals together...

a far cry from the ape-men
scientists imagined

when the species was discovered
in Germany in 1856.

Other finds reveal details
of a rich and multi-faceted culture

an aspect of the species
that is only now being recognised.

Here's a very interesting bone.

It's from a bird, a scavenger
that eats almost exclusively bones.

It's got cut marks

so it shows they've been processed
by the Neanderthals.

But we don't think
they're eating them.

We think, with these large birds,

that they're getting them
for their feathers.

These birds have colourful feathers,
some of them large, dark feathers,

and we think that they're using them
to wear them.

Other artefacts suggest Neanderthals
adorned their bodies

with body paint and jewellery...

creating a vibrant personal display.

So this gives us
a completely new dimension,

something we hadn't suspected

until we started to discover
these things here.

What it means, I think,
is that they had ways

of symbolising,
abstracting the world.

They had ways of communicating
by signalling,

ornamenting themselves.

Deeper still in the cave

there are even more remarkable signs
of Neanderthal life.

The passageway winds toward
a recently-excavated chamber.

So we're just coming
to what must've been

one of the favourite spots
of the Neanderthals... just here.

We find evidence for something

that would have been not suspected
a few years ago.

The first discovery
of a Neanderthal rock engraving...

a grid pattern, carbon-dated
to at least 39,000 years ago.

Scientists believe the Neanderthal
carver intended it as a clan marker,

perhaps staking a claim to the cave.

The marker is a clue that
Neanderthals, like modern humans,

were capable of abstract thought

and it challenges the belief

that Neanderthal were the
intellectually inferior species.

They may not have spoken
the same language,

they may not have thought
that beautiful things

were what we think
as beautiful things

but they had the capacity
for abstraction

and I have no doubt that they have
similar cognitive abilities

to modern humans.

A different picture of Neanderthal
is now emerging...

that of a species more like us
than we ever imagined.

Then why, and how,
did they vanish from the world?

Who were the Neanderthal?

Their story begins
600,000 years ago

in Africa...

with another species -

the evolutionary ancestors of both
Neanderthal and modern humans

Homo heidelbergensis.

They are the first humans
known to harness the power of fire

and hunt with wooden spears.

They've advanced
over more ancient people.

They have bigger brains, they
have adapted in a human-like way.

But it has none of
the specialisations

that are in Neanderthals

and it doesn't have
the specialisations

that are in modern humans.

They're not either like us
or like Neanderthals.

They're ancestors of us both.

In pursuit of more abundant game

some head out of Africa

into Asia.

Others settle across Europe,

including in what is now

Heidelberg, Germany,

where their bones
are first discovered.

When they left Africa and entered
Central Asia and Europe,

they would've been experiencing
a harsher climate in many ways.

It's a time
of great climactic change,

brought on by a slight shift
of the earth's axis

that tilts the North Pole
away from the sun.

The polar caps expand, moving across
North America and northern Europe.

Temperatures drop by as much as 20
degrees in the northern hemisphere.

300 to 400,000 years ago in Europe

the ice-age elements
forge a new breed of man...

Homo neanderthalensis,

the Neanderthal.

Where they lived,
in Europe and Central Asia,

these were the coldest places
in human existence in those times.

So they were adapting to that.

Their complexion has become lighter
compared to their African ancestors,

enhancing absorption of sunlight
during the shorter northern days.

Their hair is straight and thick
added protection from the cold.

They have a muscular build,
more fit for the rugged terrain.

They were strong
and amazingly healthy.

They were in fact
an extraordinary population.

Along with
their physical adaptations,

Neanderthals find strength and safety
in numbers.

They live in tight-knit clans,

dedicated to the care and protection
of each other.

You're looking at people that have
lived in a challenging landscape

for hundreds of thousands of years.

These lives are short
and they rely on their groups

for their children
to be able to survive

because the parents might not.

By banding together,
Neanderthals survive the hardships

and thrive
in this ice-age environment.

Numbering in the tens of thousands,
they spread across Europe,

the Middle East, Central Asia
and as far north as Siberia.

They were mobile.

They're able to get what they need
from the landscape where they are.

So they're collecting raw materials
for tools

and they carry them
tens of kilometres,

maybe hundreds of kilometres
with them sometimes.

They're moving in pursuit of being
able to find food and survive.

And in this world of frigid earth
where vegetation is scarce

their survival depends
on the animals they hunt.

They follow wandering herds
of bison...

and stalk more evasive prey
like deer.

Their ability to provide

resources like vegetation and roots
and tubers and fruits

was probably extremely limited.

They were forced to eat
mainly hunted animals.

Their hunting tool
is the thrusting spear...

a powerful weapon, but only useful
if the prey is within arm's reach.

This makes every hunt
a most dangerous game.

But you can't be unintelligent
about it, right?

You have to know
when it's worth taking the risk.

A herd of bison roams the valley...

unaware of the hunters' approach.

The well-coordinated team
closes in on their quarry...

and then goes in for the kill.

If your hunting method requires you
to jump on a bison with a spear,

you know,
that's what you call fearless.

Each hunt
is a life-or-death undertaking

but the supply of fresh meat
is worth the risk.

Neanderthals would have had to be
brutally efficient

when it came to using the food
that they got,

using the food in their environment

and using every part
of the animals that they hunted.

When they return to camp

the hunters butcher their prize,

using razor-sharp blades
made of flint.

They cook their meat
over an open fire,

rendering the toughest chunks
more digestible.

They scrape and stretch the hide,
making the leather soft and pliable.

They're creating the hides for them

to make some clothing out of
to wear.

They're using rock
to make tools rapidly.

They were able to master
the environment that they lived in.

For now, Neanderthals
are masters of their world.

But one day
their rule will be threatened

by another species -

our direct ancestors,
modern humans.

40,000 years ago, ice-age Europe.

Here, Neanderthals have survived
and thrived for 300,000 years.

They alone
have been the masters of this land.

But now they face
their greatest challenge.

A new species
has entered their territory.

Homo sapiens...

modern humans.

Like Neanderthal

they are the evolutionary descendants
of Homo heidelbergensis.

They first emerged 200,000 years ago
on the savannahs of Africa.

80,000 to 60,000 years ago
groups of modern humans headed north

in search
of more fertile hunting grounds

into the Middle East and Asia.

And a few pushed west,

entering
Neanderthal's European homeland.

They carry throwing spears

a weapon built to kill
from a distance -

and they are different in appearance.

Evolving in Africa,

where water bodies
were more and more scattered,

it promoted natural selection

towards ability to move
over large distances quickly,

becoming an endurance runner,

and with that a technology
that is lightweight,

portable, that you can carry around.

The newcomers are hunters...

and they come seeking the land and
game Neanderthals claim as their own.

Whenever human populations
come into contact historically

there's always cases of warfare.

"These guys are coming.
They're trying to steal our land.

"We have to fight them."

And you always see that whenever
you see modern humans disperse.

I have to believe

that Neanderthals and modern humans
would've been the same way.

For over a century
many scientists have marked this

as the beginning of the end
for Neanderthal.

Within 10,000 years
of modern humans' arrival,

Neanderthals would disappear
across most of Europe.

The timing seems more than
coincidental for many scientists.

In this theory

Neanderthals were extinguished
by invading modern humans.

And there is tantalising evidence
linked to this theory -

a clue from what might be
the world's oldest cold case.

A 40,000-to-50,000-year-old rib

from a Neanderthal skeleton
found in an Iraqi cave.

It bears the mark of a fatal wound.

This may be the best case
of a Neanderthal murder victim.

But who is the killer?

There are only two possibilities

another Neanderthal
or an invading Homo sapien.

In Mettmann, Germany,
at the Neanderthal Museum,

forensic anthropologist John Hawks
examines the ancient evidence,

searching for answers.

The thing is that this rib
has this big gash in it.

It was clearly made by some sort
of stone point or sharp edge.

The next-door rib, the eighth rib,

has only a very minor reaction
on it.

So that indicates that the point
that made this injury

was very small.

This suggests a precision-cut blade

a weapon unlike the heavy
Neanderthal thrusting spear.

Some sort of small point
made this injury

punched into the thoracic column.

The blade entered
at a 45-degree angle.

The downward trajectory
suggests a weapon thrown overhead.

So that indicates
that this was a projectile point

made by a modern human.

This is evidence that there was
conflict between the species.

And in this encounter
a Neanderthal clearly lost.

But other evidence suggests

these confrontations
may not have been so one-sided.

Reconstructions of the Neanderthals

show them to be
relatively short and stocky

with short extremities
and relatively barrel chests.

Based on the latest evidence,
the Neanderthal would have been,

at the very least,
a formidable opponent.

The remains of muscle markings
left on the bones

show extraordinary strength.

This muscular frame
gave them the ability

to contend with threats
close at hand.

For Neanderthal, a species that
confronted two-ton bison head on,

a modern human attacker
would have been a light-weight foe.

Neanderthal was shorter
than his modern human challenger,

on average four to five inches.

But because of greater muscle mass,
he would weigh the same.

Neanderthal's pectoral muscles

were twice the size
of the average modern humans'.

With a more muscular upper body,
scientists believe

that a Neanderthal could produce
80 to 90 per cent more force

than a modern human.

You know, if they did arm wrestling,

I suspect the Neanderthals
would beat everybody,

including the ex-governor
of California.

I think he would not stand a chance.

And their greater muscularity
reveals another fact.

The Neanderthal body was riddled
with androgens - sex hormones.

Neanderthals had naturally

a greater amount
of occurring androgens,

which developed their muscularity
and the denseness of their bones.

And androgens, like steroids,
have a well-known side effect.

They may have been
a little more aggressive

and so they may have been somewhat
more dangerous than modern humans.

Entering Neanderthal territory could
have posed a risk for modern humans.

Maybe we didn't win as many battles
that we would like to think,

that perhaps the Neanderthals
on home territory

knew what they were on about

and maybe they succeeded
more often than we realise.

Neanderthal strength
likely gave them the advantage

in most violent clashes.

But survival would also depend

on the ability to cope
with the bitter ice-age climate.

Who was best physically built
to withstand extreme cold

the muscular, stocky Neanderthal
or the tall, lean modern human?

Come on over.
We're gonna gear you guys up...

To find out

we're putting two volunteers
with two distinct body types

to the test
in a deep-freeze environment.

We're at a California
cryotherapy centre

that uses extreme cold to enhance
healing and recovery for athletes.

Okay, we're about to expose
Jason and Matt,

two very different body types,

to minus 166 degrees Fahrenheit

to determine how their bodies react
to the cold temperature.

One of the volunteers stands tall
for modern man,

the other, stocky and muscular
like Neanderthal.

Before they're exposed
to the extreme cold,

the men protect their hands, face,
ears and head.

We're gonna be using thermal imaging

to take a look
at both pre- and post-treatment.

But first,
a pre-test skin temperature reading.

96 degrees.

95 degrees, very similar.

Good, let's go ahead and go!

They're gonna enter the pre-chamber
here for 30 seconds.

This part of the process
sort of acclimatises the body

and prepares it
for the much colder temperature

in the treatment chamber.

All right, go and enter
the main chamber.

They're now in the main chamber
of minus 166.

This is 30 degrees colder

than the lowest temperature
ever recorded on earth.

For this test,
our subjects will endure

a survivable but excruciating
three minutes in the cryo-chamber.

Much longer
and they risk hypothermia,

shock and even death.

Two minutes.

Lab technicians
closely monitor the volunteers.

One minute left. One minute...

30 seconds...

Time's up. Go and exit the chamber.

Okay, they're gonna be
exiting the chamber

and we're gonna get
skin temperatures...

Call it out.

56...

51.

The volunteer
with the more muscular build

has retained
a higher skin temperature.

So you can see here

that Jason's internal temperature
or muscle temperature

is several degrees higher
than Matt's.

Under thermal imaging

the advantages of a stocky frame
become even more apparent.

The warmest areas are shown in red,
the coldest in blue.

But that's not all.

It's interesting, you can see,

during this, you know, minute
while they're out

they're starting to rewarm.

And Jason actually is starting
to rewarm pretty rapidly.

The more muscular body
also recovers faster.

But why?

Around the skeletal area

where the muscle is,
there's more vascularity.

You're getting circulation
in those areas pretty rapidly.

Because they evolved
in a cold climate

Neanderthals developed a body type

tailor-made
for the world they lived in.

They possessed superior
physical strength and stamina.

So what advantage
did modern humans have?

It must have been brain power.

Neanderthals were stronger and better
adapted to the cold than modern man.

But when it comes to intelligence,

Neanderthals have always had
a bad reputation.

This brutish guy with a club,

pounding on the head of his mate
and dragging her into a cave

that is what the Neanderthal
has come to represent.

It's a reputation that goes back
to the discovery of the species.

Neanderthals were recognised in 1856

and you have to think
that in those days

Europeans were envisioning
a human past

that was very primitive

and Neanderthals
fit right into that.

What stuck out to scientists
was Neanderthals' protruding brow...

the mark of a species not quite human
and less intelligent.

But how does Neanderthal's brain
actually compare to our own?

For forensic anthropologist
John Hawks,

this is the kind of comparison

that sparked his interest
in Neanderthal 20 years ago.

I started working with Neanderthals
when I was in graduate school.

The cool thing about Neanderthals
is that they're so close to us

and yet there's like this division
between them and us

and so looking at them
gives us a look at ourselves

through maybe
sort of a distorted kind of a lens.

Using 3-D imaging technology,

Hawks studies Neanderthal skulls
excavated in France.

The technology allows him
to peer inside the skull

and glean insights
about the Neanderthal brain.

It has a very pronounced brow ridge
right on the outside of it

and you might think "Wow!

"That must impact the shape
of the front of the brain,

"which is right behind it."

I like the way you've lined it up.

Like a 3-D x-ray,

a laser scanner captures every detail
outside and inside the skull.

When you turn this frontal bone over
and look inside of it,

you see
the frontal lobes of the brain

that are imprinted
in the back of that bone.

The marks left in the bone

allow the scientists to calculate
the size of the frontal lobes,

the area of the brain
involved with cognitive processes.

The imprint inside of it,
of those frontal lobes,

is basically the same as ours.

Within the frontal lobes
lie the prefrontal cortex

the area responsible
for critical thinking,

problem solving and creativity...

The results of Hawks' analysis

reveal a brain
that's remarkably similar to our own.

The parts of the brain that are
responsible for language capacity,

the parts of the brain
that are responsible

for really thinking about stuff,

seem to be the same size
and proportion in Neanderthals

as they are in humans.

But surprisingly, there's one area

where Neanderthal's brain
differs from ours.

The back part is a little extended,
right inside that occipital bun,

and it's possible
that that makes a difference

to the functions
of the back of the brain.

The occipital bun
contains the occipital lobe,

the area involved
with processing visual information,

like pattern recognition
and depth perception.

For hunters,
these are critical visual clues

used to identify prey and hit
their target with deadly accuracy.

This points to Neanderthals
having exceptional vision.

So this is a possible
functional difference

between Neanderthals and us.

But the true measure
of Neanderthals' brain power

lies in how they applied it

to survive challenges
in their environment

and how they kept pace

with the inventions
of their modern human rivals.

The best examples
are the tools they built.

To the untrained eye,

Neanderthal knives appear crude,
even primitive,

especially when compared
to the precision-chiselled blades

and spearheads
crafted by modern humans.

Neanderthals would make knives

that basically would get done
in a coupla minutes at most.

So rather than trying to impress

with how fancy
their technology looks,

they're interested
in getting the job done.

Modern Homo sapien technology
seems to be a lot more elegant.

You know, a piece like this
would take several hours to make,

sometimes a day.

But a quickly made knife
is not necessarily an inferior one.

For a Neanderthal
to make a spearhead

is just not a lucky blow.

Neanderthals were able to create
their stone flakes

that not only had
incredibly sharp edges

but the edges
were incredibly strong.

Archaeologist Metin Eren

is uncovering
Neanderthal tool-making techniques

by replicating their methods.

While it looks easy
to make these stone flakes,

it took me about a year and a half

to learn how to make and replicate

the same exact technology
that Neanderthals did.

One reason why the Neanderthal
technology is so hard

is that it's necessary
to get a precise geometry

in the rock that you're making.

Neanderthal stone-cutters
targeted small fissures and cracks.

In a sense, they saw the blade
within each rock

and struck accordingly...

a visionary technique.

A Neanderthal could easily make
50 to 60 to 70 stone flakes

from a single nodule of flint.

So I think in a very real sense

you could say it was almost assembly
line stone flake production.

A side-by-side comparison
with a modern-day knife

shows just how effective
the Neanderthal blade is.

The metal knife
requires lots of effort.

The Neanderthal stone blade
slices with ease.

Neanderthal knives were as sharp
as anything that we would have today

and it really just speaks to how
sophisticated their technology was.

And how well they were able to use
the materials at their disposal.

With their stone blades, Neanderthals
turn a basic assumption upside-down.

They prove
that when it comes to technology

they are on par with modern man.

And there is at least one instance

where Neanderthal's innovation
surpasses that of our own species.

This seemingly unremarkable object,
uncovered in a German mine in 1963,

is a piece of technological history.

This 50,000-year-old artefact

bears the stamp
of its original Neanderthal owner.

(Speaks German)

TRANSLATION: It's a very small,
black, unremarkable thing

but it's a sensation.

What you can see here
is an imprint from wood.

And when you turn it around

there is another imprint
of a stone point.

And below that,
a Neanderthal fingerprint.

What's so remarkable
for chemist Christian Wunderlich

isn't just the maker's mark.

It's the substance itself.

Chemical analysis reveals
that it does not occur in nature,

making it the world's oldest
synthetic material.

It's an adhesive distilled
from birch bark called "pitch"...

a kind of stone-age superglue.

Neanderthals used pitch
to form a rock-hard bond

between stone blades
and wooden shafts,

making their thrusting spears
more durable and deadly.

But the most impressive part
of the landmark adhesive

is the process
involved with its production -

a process that scientists
could only figure out

in the controlled environment
of a lab.

You have to invent this
and tinker with the recipe

in order to do it properly

and it's hard for us
to learn how to do.

Birch pitch only emerges

when the bark is heated
to around 750 degrees Fahrenheit.

The problem is, in open air the bark
ignites at much lower temperatures.

So how did the Neanderthals do it?

Christian Wunderlich and a colleague
are attempting to make pitch

using only materials
available to Neanderthals.

First, they place the birch bark
in a container,

like the goose egg seen here.

Next, an empty container with a wider
opening is buried in the ground.

It will later collect the pitch.

Then Wunderlich places the container
with the birch bark on top of it.

Mud is then applied
to seal the two containers,

preventing oxygen from rushing in
and sparking the ignition process.

The birch pitch
that they're creating

in order to use as a glue
to adhere things together,

it's so complicated, the steps
that you have to carry out

to create this accurately

and they're doing it

and they're doing it
apparently for long periods of time.

Hot coals are used
to heat the birch bark

inside the goose-egg container.

As temperatures rise
to 750 degrees Fahrenheit

the oily pitch
will begin to ooze out.

(Speaks German)

TRANSLATION: Normally 30 per cent
of the birch bark becomes pitch.

The entire procedure
takes 20-30 minutes

but the process itself

is over 200,000 years
in the making...

a testament
to the intellect of Neanderthal

and proof that they,
like modern humans,

had the ability
to innovate and invent,

to see possibilities in nature

and mould them
for their own advantage and survival.

What technology really is
is the ability to follow directions,

carry them out to create something
that's useful to you.

And Neanderthals,
they're able to do these things.

They're learning
from other Neanderthals

and they're carrying out
those things

long before modern humans
show up on the scene.

So we're just getting
a little glimpse

of the sophistication
that Neanderthals probably had.

But for all their sophistication,

Neanderthal technology
may have had one fatal flaw.

Experts now understand that
Neanderthals were physically stronger

than their Homo sapien rivals,

and equally as intelligent
and innovative.

Why then did they disappear
while modern man survived?

Could their different
hunting techniques be the key?

Neanderthals attacked their prey

with thrusting spears...

a heavy, hand-held weapon.

Modern humans pursued their quarry
armed with throwing spears.

Pitted against modern man
and their throwing spears,

did the Neanderthals die out
because they were simply outhunted?

In Petaluma, California,

weapons expert Mike Loades
and his colleague Scott Thomas

will put Neanderthal
and modern human spears to the test.

Their target - a pig carcass.

It's a good height.
We've got the height.

First up,
the modern human throwing spear.

This is not the Olympics.

We're not throwing
for hundreds of metres.

This is hunting
and it's hunting in a group.

So I have got my friends
the other side of that animal.

I'm not throwing for distance,

I'm throwing for penetration
and accuracy.

So probably no more
than six to eight metres.

Even as close as this
is a reasonable hunting distance.

Like Neanderthal, modern man needed
to get close to their prey.

But how deadly
is the modern human throwing spear?

We can see already
that the impact of that strike

has actually sheared
the stone head off.

Now, in terms of doing damage to the
animal that doesn't matter too much.

You know, this has penetrated
and in fact if we look round here...

Yeah, it's come right through.

But how will this compare to the
killing power of the thrusting spear?

Neanderthals tended
to hunt the big game,

the big aggressive animals
like mammoths and bisons,

big creatures that run at you.

In that situation I do not wanna
throw my weapon away.

This time,
Loades will strike the target

using all of his strength,
Neanderthal style.

That has gone in
pretty convincingly.

I mean, we can see
it's past the shoulder.

It's gone in deeper
than the thrown one.

And clearly the thrown spear

is a higher-velocity event
than the thrust one.

But that little extra bit
of muscle power,

even my weak, modern human
muscle power,

has been enough to go through.

The thrusting spear
appears to be more lethal.

But to be sure, Loades wants to
conduct another battery of tests,

this time
under controlled conditions.

At the University of California,
Berkeley,

Loades will evaluate
both pre-historic arms,

applying technology
used for ballistics tests.

Using an air cannon,

Loades can replicate the force
of a Neanderthal's thrust

and compare it to that
of a modern human throwing a spear.

The actual design is different.

Being a throwing spear, we've got
a slightly more slender shaft.

So there's less friction
on the shaft.

The forensic gelatine

will give a clear view
of each weapon's destructive power.

First, the team wants to test
the modern human throwing spear.

Loades knows modern humans still
needed to get close to their prey

to hit their target with accuracy.

From prior experiments

he estimates the average range
was no more than nine to 12 feet.

But how deadly
is a throw from this distance?

Firing in three...

two...

one.

The spear sends a shockwave
through the gelatine

but it doesn't penetrate
past the binding on the spear tip.

Okay, not bad.

So that was at two-thirds
of our Neanderthal thrust.

So that's representing
early modern man throwing.

But it's done pretty good.

With a throwing spear,
force dissipates in flight.

Loades believes
it would typically strike

with about 30 per cent less power
than the thrusting spear.

Now it's time to put the Neanderthal
thrusting spear to the test.

Oh, yes!

Wow! That's pretty impressive.

That's just cut cleanly.
Look how far that goes in.

And dragging that material behind.
That's right.

That's causing colossal
interior damage and bleeding

and just the shock alone...

Huge.

It would stop the heart possibly,
even just the force of that.

In Loades' tests

the thrusting spear not only
stands up to the modern human spear,

it stands out
as the more powerful weapon -

a strength of Neanderthals,

rather than a weakness
for mankind to exploit.

With a body type
tailor-made for the cold

and technology perfected
over 300,000 years,

Neanderthals clearly had
the advantage in ice-age Europe.

Modern humans showed up
but the Neanderthals persist

for a good long time after modern
humans appear out of Africa

and it takes a long time
for modern humans to succeed

in the habitats where Neanderthals
are still going strong, you know.

They were able to master
the environment that they lived in.

There are still people
who will argue

that these Neanderthals
were somehow inferior

and it's our arrival

that irrevocably eliminated
anything that stood in our way.

I think it's total nonsense.

Today, a consensus is emerging -

modern humans
did not kill off the Neanderthal.

So what was it
that put them at a disadvantage?

For decades scientists believed that,
unlike modern man,

Neanderthal clans lacked
the strong interpersonal bonds

that provided security
and protection.

But even this assumption
is being challenged.

In Mettmann, Germany,

a 60,000-year-old
Neanderthal skeleton provides proof

that modern man was not the only
species with strong social bonds.

I mean, it's amazing that the entire
skeleton is sort of laid out here.

Yeah. See, it is a extremely
well-preserved skeleton.

The skeleton is intact, encased
in earth tightly packed around it,

proof that Neanderthals
were possibly the first humans

to bury their dead.

So it wouldn't be preserved this way

if it wasn't like a body
that went into a hole.

Exactly. It is still articulated.
Uh-huh.

The right arm crosses the body,

as if it was carefully posed
before the deceased was laid to rest.

So I think it must have been put
in a burial pit

and covered with clay

so that scavengers, hyenas
and so on, did not disturb it.

This is just one example
of a Neanderthal burial

and it is just one of many burial
traditions now linked to Neanderthal.

We're looking at
a range of traditions,

just as it's variable
among living human populations.

You have these bodies that are laid
out aligned with each other.

And then you have a large stone
placed over it with marks on it.

Although the exact meaning
of their burial practices

is shrouded in mystery,

the fact itself is telling.

And when we look at the way
they were treating their dead,

it shows us that they were doing so
in a way that we recognise as human.

If they're burying their dead

they have some kind of thought
about an afterlife,

respect for those people
who have died.

And that shows how human they are.

That brings them closer to ourselves
even more.

These new discoveries
pose many questions

about our closest human relatives.

What were
and what are our relationships?

How do we fit in
with the Neanderthals?

How can we understand
their relationships to us?

I think we have many questions.

The most pressing
if we are so similar,

why did the Neanderthals die out
while we survived?

That was a volcanic event.

They were in the wrong place
at the wrong time.

Captions (c) SBS Australia