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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:01,070 --> 00:00:03,244 Viewers like you make this program possible. 2 00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:05,350 Support your local PBS station. 3 00:00:12,978 --> 00:00:15,187 ♪ 4 00:00:15,222 --> 00:00:17,603 DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: Here in Southern England, 5 00:00:17,638 --> 00:00:22,988 the remains of ice age mammoths have just been discovered. 6 00:00:23,023 --> 00:00:25,887 ♪ 7 00:00:25,922 --> 00:00:28,235 The bones reveal a species of mammoth 8 00:00:28,269 --> 00:00:32,032 that lived hundreds of thousands of years ago. 9 00:00:32,066 --> 00:00:35,552 Must've been rather enchanting. 10 00:00:35,587 --> 00:00:37,175 ♪ 11 00:00:37,209 --> 00:00:38,831 And carefully crafted stone tools 12 00:00:38,866 --> 00:00:41,834 show that early humans were here, too. 13 00:00:41,869 --> 00:00:44,630 Really beautiful, actually. 14 00:00:44,665 --> 00:00:46,011 ♪ 15 00:00:46,046 --> 00:00:47,702 A team of archaeologists 16 00:00:47,737 --> 00:00:50,912 is carrying out a forensic investigation of the site. 17 00:00:50,947 --> 00:00:52,535 ♪ 18 00:00:52,569 --> 00:00:54,330 SALLY HOLLINGWORTH: It's like a time travel 19 00:00:54,364 --> 00:00:56,090 through the gravel. [laughs] 20 00:00:56,125 --> 00:00:57,712 ♪ 21 00:00:57,747 --> 00:01:00,094 ATTENBOROUGH: Why were the mammoths here, 22 00:01:00,129 --> 00:01:01,889 and how did they die? 23 00:01:01,923 --> 00:01:03,063 It's like a really big whodunit, isn't it? 24 00:01:04,616 --> 00:01:08,206 ATTENBOROUGH: Could ancient humans have hunted them? 25 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:11,416 This is very typical of early Neanderthals. 26 00:01:11,450 --> 00:01:12,762 ♪ 27 00:01:12,796 --> 00:01:15,005 ANNEMIEKE MILKS: This shows their technology 28 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:16,283 was capable of distance hunting. 29 00:01:16,317 --> 00:01:18,595 BEN GARROD: Oh! MILKS: Brilliant. 30 00:01:18,630 --> 00:01:23,083 ATTENBOROUGH: What can this remarkable site reveal about life and death 31 00:01:23,117 --> 00:01:25,878 in ice age Britain? 32 00:01:25,913 --> 00:01:29,192 ♪ 33 00:01:29,227 --> 00:01:34,163 "Great Mammoth Mystery," right now, on "NOVA." 34 00:01:34,197 --> 00:01:42,032 ♪ 35 00:01:42,067 --> 00:01:46,140 ♪ 36 00:01:46,175 --> 00:01:48,901 ATTENBOROUGH: You might expect to travel to remote parts 37 00:01:48,936 --> 00:01:51,180 of Siberia or South Dakota 38 00:01:51,214 --> 00:01:53,561 to uncover bones of ice age beasts. 39 00:01:53,596 --> 00:01:57,255 ♪ 40 00:01:57,289 --> 00:01:59,636 But 90 miles west of my home in London, 41 00:01:59,671 --> 00:02:02,018 two of Britain's most prolific 42 00:02:02,052 --> 00:02:05,918 amateur fossil hunters have made the discovery of a lifetime. 43 00:02:05,953 --> 00:02:07,403 [doorbell rings] 44 00:02:07,437 --> 00:02:10,406 I've come to meet Sally and Neville Hollingworth. 45 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:13,167 Hello! [laughs] 46 00:02:13,202 --> 00:02:15,169 ATTENBOROUGH: Nice to meet you. Lovely to meet you! 47 00:02:15,204 --> 00:02:16,550 NEVILLE HOLLINGWORTH: Absolute pleasure to meet you. 48 00:02:16,584 --> 00:02:17,827 SALLY: Come on in! 49 00:02:17,861 --> 00:02:20,485 This is our humble home. 50 00:02:20,519 --> 00:02:22,970 Gosh! 51 00:02:23,004 --> 00:02:25,524 ATTENBOROUGH [voiceover]: Sally and Neville 52 00:02:25,559 --> 00:02:27,802 both have office jobs, 53 00:02:27,837 --> 00:02:30,943 but they spend their weekends hunting for fossils. 54 00:02:30,978 --> 00:02:32,945 ♪ 55 00:02:32,980 --> 00:02:37,191 Like me, they have a passion for doing so. 56 00:02:37,226 --> 00:02:40,298 But theirs went rather farther. 57 00:02:40,332 --> 00:02:43,542 SALLY: When we went on fossil hunts and Nev would invite me, 58 00:02:43,577 --> 00:02:48,444 and he passed me half a vertebrae. 59 00:02:48,478 --> 00:02:50,066 It's Jurassic, 60 00:02:50,100 --> 00:02:51,481 it's marine reptile. Yeah. 61 00:02:51,516 --> 00:02:54,691 A couple of weeks later, he texts me to say, 62 00:02:54,726 --> 00:02:57,660 "I think I might've found the other half of that vertebrae. 63 00:02:57,694 --> 00:02:59,662 "Do you fancy meeting for a drink and we'll see if they 64 00:02:59,696 --> 00:03:02,078 join together?"[laughs] 65 00:03:02,112 --> 00:03:03,079 It's a good line, isn't it? 66 00:03:03,113 --> 00:03:05,046 This is true! [laughs] 67 00:03:05,081 --> 00:03:07,428 Well, of course. And so we met, for a drink. 68 00:03:07,463 --> 00:03:10,224 And... they joined together! NEVILLE: They joined together. 69 00:03:10,259 --> 00:03:11,864 -I thought, "Well, there we go, -SALLY: And we clicked. 70 00:03:11,948 --> 00:03:13,084 NEVILLE: It's a match made in heaven... 71 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:14,263 Not a dry eye in the house! 72 00:03:14,297 --> 00:03:15,988 [laughs] NEVILLE: No, no, not at all, no! 73 00:03:16,023 --> 00:03:18,715 ♪ 74 00:03:18,750 --> 00:03:20,510 SALLY: We've got some in the kitchen. 75 00:03:20,545 --> 00:03:22,167 More fossils? SALLY: Finds. 76 00:03:22,202 --> 00:03:24,238 More finds. I thought for a moment it was going to be sandwiches! 77 00:03:24,273 --> 00:03:25,481 ♪ 78 00:03:25,515 --> 00:03:27,068 ATTENBOROUGH [voiceover]: These are the finds 79 00:03:27,103 --> 00:03:30,900 I've come to see... mammoth bones. 80 00:03:30,934 --> 00:03:33,385 Wow, gosh. 81 00:03:33,420 --> 00:03:36,008 And this is our kitchen dino. 82 00:03:36,043 --> 00:03:38,045 [laughing] 83 00:03:38,079 --> 00:03:41,221 Yes. Well, and I know it's a leg bone, isn't it? 84 00:03:41,255 --> 00:03:42,222 Yes. Yes. 85 00:03:42,256 --> 00:03:43,292 Where was it? 86 00:03:43,326 --> 00:03:44,569 NEVILLE: It was actually literally 87 00:03:44,603 --> 00:03:46,191 just sticking out of some gravel 88 00:03:46,226 --> 00:03:48,262 on the floor of a workingquarry. Which end? 89 00:03:48,297 --> 00:03:50,816 This end. So that bit... 90 00:03:50,851 --> 00:03:51,886 So that was the... was all you could see? 91 00:03:51,921 --> 00:03:53,405 That's all you could see. 92 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:55,304 We thought there might be a bit more of it. 93 00:03:55,338 --> 00:03:56,857 So we started to excavate, 94 00:03:56,891 --> 00:03:58,410 and as we started digging, 95 00:03:58,445 --> 00:04:00,378 we found that it was actually a complete 96 00:04:00,412 --> 00:04:02,000 humerus of a mammoth. 97 00:04:02,034 --> 00:04:05,348 This pelvis bone has actually gone through 98 00:04:05,383 --> 00:04:06,763 the processing plant 99 00:04:06,798 --> 00:04:08,282 and it dropped out 100 00:04:08,317 --> 00:04:10,595 in the, in the reject pile of the quarry. 101 00:04:12,355 --> 00:04:15,220 ATTENBOROUGH [voiceover]: Two years ago, Neville and Sally 102 00:04:15,255 --> 00:04:20,018 asked for permission to look for fossils in a freshly dug quarry. 103 00:04:20,052 --> 00:04:22,054 They never expected to find pieces of bones 104 00:04:22,089 --> 00:04:25,679 of several mammoths. 105 00:04:25,713 --> 00:04:27,094 Cup of tea for you, David. Thank you very much. 106 00:04:27,128 --> 00:04:28,682 -There we are. -ATTENBOROUGH: Oh, hang on. 107 00:04:28,716 --> 00:04:30,925 [laughs] Mammoth cake, yeah! 108 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:33,445 Yeah, so, mammoth cupcakes. 109 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:34,446 ATTENBOROUGH: Do you have one? 110 00:04:34,481 --> 00:04:36,034 Yes... [laughing] [mumbling] 111 00:04:36,068 --> 00:04:37,035 I'm gonna have one. 112 00:04:37,069 --> 00:04:38,105 I'm gonna have a chocolate one. 113 00:04:38,139 --> 00:04:39,693 ATTENBOROUGH [voiceover]: But there's one find 114 00:04:39,727 --> 00:04:42,040 that raises intriguing questions 115 00:04:42,074 --> 00:04:44,870 about how the mammoths died: 116 00:04:44,905 --> 00:04:50,359 a stone tool, a hand axe, made by an ancient human. 117 00:04:50,393 --> 00:04:51,946 There was a small glint, and I thought, 118 00:04:51,981 --> 00:04:53,569 "Mmm, that looks a bit interesting, 119 00:04:53,603 --> 00:04:55,260 a bit different." -ATTENBOROUGH: You saw this? 120 00:04:55,295 --> 00:04:57,607 I just, yeah. Well, the main thing is 121 00:04:57,642 --> 00:04:59,851 that it was made by man. 122 00:04:59,885 --> 00:05:01,301 Yes. NEVILLE: Yeah. 123 00:05:01,335 --> 00:05:05,097 And it was that feeling that I was the first human to touch 124 00:05:05,132 --> 00:05:08,411 this stone tool in 125 00:05:08,446 --> 00:05:10,310 hundreds of thousands of years. 126 00:05:10,344 --> 00:05:12,208 It's a great thrill, isn't it? It is, yeah. 127 00:05:12,242 --> 00:05:13,554 Yes. The whole of this business. 128 00:05:15,591 --> 00:05:19,629 ATTENBOROUGH [voiceover]: Finding a stone tool near mammoth bones is extremely rare. 129 00:05:19,664 --> 00:05:22,529 But we don't yet know if it was left by humans 130 00:05:22,563 --> 00:05:26,326 from a more recent time in prehistory. 131 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:30,364 Well, you could certainly cut things with that, I'm sure. 132 00:05:30,399 --> 00:05:32,608 Yeah, we did. We did. 133 00:05:32,642 --> 00:05:34,713 You did? We cut our wedding cake. 134 00:05:34,748 --> 00:05:37,233 [laughing] 135 00:05:37,267 --> 00:05:39,753 You cut your wedding cake? Yes. 136 00:05:39,787 --> 00:05:40,926 [laughs] 137 00:05:40,961 --> 00:05:42,169 Yeah. Really?! 138 00:05:42,203 --> 00:05:45,241 There we are. [laughing] 139 00:05:45,275 --> 00:05:48,796 We cut our wedding cake, got married, and... 140 00:05:48,831 --> 00:05:50,246 And had a mammoth meal. 141 00:05:50,280 --> 00:05:51,489 And had a mammoth meal, a mammoth event. 142 00:05:51,523 --> 00:05:52,766 Yeah. [laughing] 143 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:56,701 Yeah. 144 00:05:56,735 --> 00:06:00,152 ♪ 145 00:06:04,156 --> 00:06:06,400 ATTENBOROUGH [voiceover]: Mammoths roamed the plains 146 00:06:06,435 --> 00:06:08,402 of Europe, Asia, and North America 147 00:06:08,437 --> 00:06:12,958 until the climate warmed at the end of the last ice age. 148 00:06:12,993 --> 00:06:17,584 These extinct cousins of elephants had huge curving tusks 149 00:06:17,618 --> 00:06:21,346 and thrived during the ice age. 150 00:06:21,381 --> 00:06:25,488 Their remains are usually tens of thousands of years old. 151 00:06:27,041 --> 00:06:30,666 But Sally and Neville's finds could be far older. 152 00:06:30,700 --> 00:06:32,806 ♪ 153 00:06:32,840 --> 00:06:35,464 They could offer an extremely rare glimpse 154 00:06:35,498 --> 00:06:37,397 of life deep in the ice age, 155 00:06:37,431 --> 00:06:39,882 a time we know little about, 156 00:06:39,916 --> 00:06:43,679 when early humans lived alongside mammoths. 157 00:06:43,713 --> 00:06:46,647 ♪ 158 00:06:46,682 --> 00:06:50,375 But how did these mammoths die? 159 00:06:50,410 --> 00:06:54,172 Was it from natural causes 160 00:06:54,206 --> 00:06:58,728 or could they have been hunted? 161 00:06:58,763 --> 00:07:02,939 The quarry where Sally and Neville made their discovery 162 00:07:02,974 --> 00:07:06,322 lies just ten miles north of their home in Swindon, 163 00:07:06,356 --> 00:07:08,428 near the village of Cerney Wick. 164 00:07:10,706 --> 00:07:14,468 Groundwater was deliberately allowed to flood the site 165 00:07:14,503 --> 00:07:18,438 to prevent any bones in the ground from drying out. 166 00:07:18,472 --> 00:07:22,925 ♪ 167 00:07:22,959 --> 00:07:25,893 Now, two years after they made their first find, 168 00:07:25,928 --> 00:07:30,173 that water is being pumped out, 169 00:07:30,208 --> 00:07:33,867 ready for a team to begin investigating. 170 00:07:33,901 --> 00:07:37,111 ♪ 171 00:07:37,146 --> 00:07:40,632 Leading the dig is another husband-and-wife duo, 172 00:07:40,667 --> 00:07:45,672 Brendon Wilkins and Lisa Westscott Wilkins. 173 00:07:45,706 --> 00:07:47,501 WESTSCOTT WILKINS: Those ducks must hate us. 174 00:07:47,536 --> 00:07:48,916 They had this place filled with water 175 00:07:48,951 --> 00:07:50,331 and now they've got nothing! 176 00:07:50,366 --> 00:07:51,678 ATTENBOROUGH [voiceover]: The team starts 177 00:07:51,712 --> 00:07:54,301 by mapping the site from the air. 178 00:07:58,581 --> 00:08:00,203 ♪ 179 00:08:00,238 --> 00:08:03,690 [camera clicking] 180 00:08:03,724 --> 00:08:05,933 WESTSCOTT WILKINS: It's so important to record this 181 00:08:05,968 --> 00:08:07,452 from the instant that we're doing anything 182 00:08:07,487 --> 00:08:10,455 so that we can build that exact picture 183 00:08:10,490 --> 00:08:14,873 of how it was before we came along and disturbed it. 184 00:08:14,908 --> 00:08:19,671 ATTENBOROUGH: The drone images provide a detailed map of the site 185 00:08:19,706 --> 00:08:23,330 so that the exact location of each find can be plotted. 186 00:08:26,506 --> 00:08:30,268 The team searches for fragments of bone. 187 00:08:30,302 --> 00:08:32,201 Biologist Ben Garrod 188 00:08:32,235 --> 00:08:34,203 has been helping coordinate the dig. 189 00:08:34,237 --> 00:08:36,205 That, we think, is mammoth bone, 190 00:08:36,239 --> 00:08:38,379 because it's so thick. Yeah. 191 00:08:38,414 --> 00:08:41,106 Well, it's definitelymammoth. 192 00:08:41,141 --> 00:08:43,833 ATTENBOROUGH: Ben was the first on the team to hear about the site 193 00:08:43,868 --> 00:08:46,733 and quickly realized its significance. 194 00:08:46,767 --> 00:08:47,837 GARROD: Sally and Neville got in touch. 195 00:08:47,872 --> 00:08:49,839 And I'd never met them, and they said, 196 00:08:49,874 --> 00:08:51,082 "Ben, we found some fossils 197 00:08:51,116 --> 00:08:52,532 that I think you might be interested in." 198 00:08:52,566 --> 00:08:54,257 And I said, "Yeah, that's great, send some photos across." 199 00:08:54,292 --> 00:08:58,468 And they did, and I was here the next day. 200 00:08:58,503 --> 00:09:00,712 I jumped on a train 201 00:09:00,747 --> 00:09:02,403 and dropped everything and came to the site, 202 00:09:02,438 --> 00:09:04,405 and it was like someone 203 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:05,648 had sprinkled mammoth bones everywhere, 204 00:09:05,683 --> 00:09:06,787 which I'd, I'd never seen. 205 00:09:06,822 --> 00:09:08,513 I thought I had to go to Siberia to see that. 206 00:09:10,273 --> 00:09:13,587 By looking at this in a forensic level of detail, 207 00:09:13,622 --> 00:09:16,659 that'll give us this really in-depth understanding 208 00:09:16,694 --> 00:09:18,627 of, of what was going on here whilst these animals 209 00:09:18,661 --> 00:09:20,249 and these people were walking around. 210 00:09:22,285 --> 00:09:24,356 ATTENBOROUGH: What intrigued Ben, and me, 211 00:09:24,391 --> 00:09:27,705 is why there are so many mammoth bones here 212 00:09:27,739 --> 00:09:31,881 from at least four different animals, 213 00:09:31,916 --> 00:09:36,610 and the tantalizing mystery of who left that stone tool. 214 00:09:36,645 --> 00:09:39,855 ♪ 215 00:09:39,889 --> 00:09:44,100 [motor running] 216 00:09:44,135 --> 00:09:46,931 So what did the landscape look like 217 00:09:46,965 --> 00:09:48,277 when the mammoths were here? 218 00:09:48,311 --> 00:09:50,590 [tool shuts off] 219 00:09:52,522 --> 00:09:54,973 KEITH WILKINSON: Okay, up. 220 00:09:55,008 --> 00:09:57,631 ATTENBOROUGH: To find out, geoarchaeologist Keith Wilkinson 221 00:09:57,666 --> 00:10:01,635 extracts samples of the underlying sediment. 222 00:10:01,670 --> 00:10:05,294 WILKINSON: So the very bottom, we've got these blue sands. 223 00:10:05,328 --> 00:10:06,847 So they are probably 224 00:10:06,882 --> 00:10:09,850 the layer with the, the mammoth fossils in. 225 00:10:09,885 --> 00:10:12,128 We've got these river gravels. 226 00:10:12,163 --> 00:10:15,615 And then these silts and sands 227 00:10:15,649 --> 00:10:18,065 at the top of the same ancient river channel. 228 00:10:18,100 --> 00:10:20,102 ♪ 229 00:10:20,136 --> 00:10:22,691 ATTENBOROUGH: The layers of sediment beneath the surface 230 00:10:22,725 --> 00:10:26,660 reveal the bed of a prehistoric river. 231 00:10:26,695 --> 00:10:31,216 This is probably the ancient route of the River Thames, 232 00:10:31,251 --> 00:10:34,910 which today lies nearly two miles away. 233 00:10:34,944 --> 00:10:37,775 Could the mammoths have died further upstream 234 00:10:37,809 --> 00:10:42,572 and their bones have been washed here when the river flooded? 235 00:10:42,607 --> 00:10:44,954 To find out, 236 00:10:44,989 --> 00:10:48,578 the team plots target areas for excavation. 237 00:10:48,613 --> 00:10:51,236 ♪ 238 00:10:51,271 --> 00:10:54,170 And the digging begins. 239 00:10:54,205 --> 00:10:57,657 ♪ 240 00:11:01,488 --> 00:11:04,318 They sieve every shovelful of soil 241 00:11:04,353 --> 00:11:06,804 in their search for fragments of bone 242 00:11:06,838 --> 00:11:09,047 or stone tools. 243 00:11:09,082 --> 00:11:15,433 ♪ 244 00:11:15,467 --> 00:11:18,470 When the trenches start to reveal new finds, 245 00:11:18,505 --> 00:11:21,750 I can't resist stopping by to see how they're doing. 246 00:11:21,784 --> 00:11:24,891 ♪ 247 00:11:24,925 --> 00:11:26,306 Welcome! 248 00:11:26,340 --> 00:11:27,583 Thank you very much. 249 00:11:27,617 --> 00:11:29,102 What do you think? 250 00:11:29,136 --> 00:11:30,482 Well, I haven't seen it yet! 251 00:11:30,517 --> 00:11:31,691 [laughing] 252 00:11:31,725 --> 00:11:33,485 Even I can see that's a tusk! 253 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:35,073 [laughing] 254 00:11:35,108 --> 00:11:36,592 ATTENBOROUGH: Well, let me get it right, where was the head? 255 00:11:36,626 --> 00:11:38,905 So this is our proximal end. 256 00:11:38,939 --> 00:11:40,216 That's the head there. That's the one, yep. 257 00:11:40,251 --> 00:11:41,631 And that's the tip of the tusk. Yeah. 258 00:11:41,666 --> 00:11:43,703 So coming round to the tip here. 259 00:11:43,737 --> 00:11:44,980 So it's curving backwards. Yes. 260 00:11:45,014 --> 00:11:46,844 Exactly. Exactly, yes. 261 00:11:46,878 --> 00:11:49,570 WESTSCOTT WILKINS: This is possibly a bit of a mandible, this was just found. 262 00:11:49,605 --> 00:11:51,780 So it's a left mandible? Yep, well, yes. 263 00:11:51,814 --> 00:11:55,542 And, and because we think that might be a left tusk, you know, 264 00:11:55,576 --> 00:11:57,786 it's possible that these belonged to the same animal. 265 00:11:57,820 --> 00:12:03,239 WILKINS: You can see bones running into the section there and here, 266 00:12:03,274 --> 00:12:04,965 and you can also see 267 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:06,967 a rib bone here. -ATTENBOROUGH: Yeah. 268 00:12:07,002 --> 00:12:08,624 WESTSCOTT WILKINS: One of the things that we wondered 269 00:12:08,658 --> 00:12:10,764 with so many of these tusks around, 270 00:12:10,799 --> 00:12:12,766 could it have been, did they all fall into the river somewhere... Oh, I see. 271 00:12:12,801 --> 00:12:14,630 ...and then get washed down in one big event? 272 00:12:14,664 --> 00:12:17,357 But what we're looking at is not a high-energy environment. 273 00:12:17,391 --> 00:12:19,842 If, if it was a washout, you would expect to see 274 00:12:19,877 --> 00:12:21,326 more debris in the channel, 275 00:12:21,361 --> 00:12:23,708 more debris in the sediment around the tusks. 276 00:12:23,743 --> 00:12:26,780 But this is basically lying in, in, where it fell. 277 00:12:26,815 --> 00:12:28,333 And the same with the tusk over there. 278 00:12:28,368 --> 00:12:29,645 So we think, you know, 279 00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:31,233 they could have just died and fallen. 280 00:12:31,267 --> 00:12:32,924 But it's, it's a bit of a coincidence, really. 281 00:12:39,275 --> 00:12:40,690 ATTENBOROUGH: This pit has been 282 00:12:40,725 --> 00:12:43,452 dug out by excavators because 283 00:12:43,486 --> 00:12:48,595 until just recently, it was full of gravel down to about 284 00:12:48,629 --> 00:12:50,597 this level. 285 00:12:50,631 --> 00:12:53,945 But here is much more solid. 286 00:12:53,980 --> 00:12:55,084 It's not gravel. 287 00:12:55,119 --> 00:12:58,985 It's, it's mud, sticky mud at that, 288 00:12:59,019 --> 00:13:00,538 and it's in this undisturbed mud 289 00:13:00,572 --> 00:13:04,473 that these bones are now being discovered. 290 00:13:04,507 --> 00:13:07,821 And because it's been undisturbed, 291 00:13:07,856 --> 00:13:12,792 very careful excavation can reveal a lot of details 292 00:13:12,826 --> 00:13:16,830 about the circumstances in which these animals got here 293 00:13:16,865 --> 00:13:19,005 and left their bones. 294 00:13:19,039 --> 00:13:21,076 ♪ 295 00:13:21,110 --> 00:13:22,491 [voiceover]: The most complete bones 296 00:13:22,525 --> 00:13:25,908 seem to be lying in the riverbed. 297 00:13:25,943 --> 00:13:28,290 And they've been covered by the fine sediment 298 00:13:28,324 --> 00:13:30,326 of slow-moving water, 299 00:13:30,361 --> 00:13:34,744 not pounded by fast-moving floodwater. 300 00:13:34,779 --> 00:13:39,404 So perhaps the mammoth died where the bones are lying now. 301 00:13:41,682 --> 00:13:45,341 Spectacular fossils like these have always fascinated us. 302 00:13:47,102 --> 00:13:48,793 Hundreds of years ago, 303 00:13:48,828 --> 00:13:50,553 it was thought that mammoth tusks 304 00:13:50,588 --> 00:13:52,383 belonged to mythical beasts. 305 00:13:52,417 --> 00:13:55,420 ♪ 306 00:13:55,455 --> 00:13:59,252 In Siberia, mammoth remains were once thought 307 00:13:59,286 --> 00:14:02,738 to be from huge underground burrowing creatures. 308 00:14:02,772 --> 00:14:05,085 In 17th-century Europe, 309 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:08,088 mammoth bones were said to be those of giants, 310 00:14:08,123 --> 00:14:11,505 or unicorns. 311 00:14:11,540 --> 00:14:14,439 By the 19th century, 312 00:14:14,474 --> 00:14:17,891 mammoths were described as prehistoric animals, 313 00:14:17,926 --> 00:14:21,653 but they were thought to have existed long before humans. 314 00:14:23,034 --> 00:14:26,279 Then, in 1864 in France, 315 00:14:26,313 --> 00:14:28,557 a piece of mammoth ivory was found 316 00:14:28,591 --> 00:14:31,767 with an engraving so accurate, it was clear 317 00:14:31,801 --> 00:14:34,425 that the artist had seen a living mammoth. 318 00:14:36,668 --> 00:14:40,707 The engraving shows a woolly mammoth, 319 00:14:40,741 --> 00:14:44,400 the most recent species on the mammoth family tree. 320 00:14:45,954 --> 00:14:49,819 We now know that early mammoths first evolved in Africa 321 00:14:49,854 --> 00:14:53,099 around five million years ago, 322 00:14:53,133 --> 00:14:55,549 and then spread into Europe and Asia. 323 00:14:57,620 --> 00:15:00,761 Around 1.7 million years ago, 324 00:15:00,796 --> 00:15:04,731 steppe mammoths evolved that grazed the grassy plains. 325 00:15:04,765 --> 00:15:08,666 They then moved into Europe and North America, 326 00:15:08,700 --> 00:15:12,566 where Columbian mammoths later appeared. 327 00:15:12,601 --> 00:15:15,086 The famous woolly mammoths developed 328 00:15:15,121 --> 00:15:19,815 around 700,000 years ago, adapted for colder climates, 329 00:15:19,849 --> 00:15:22,197 and they eventually spread first into Europe, 330 00:15:22,231 --> 00:15:25,994 and then North America. 331 00:15:26,028 --> 00:15:30,757 So which kind of mammoth lived in Britain at our site? 332 00:15:30,791 --> 00:15:35,244 ♪ 333 00:15:35,279 --> 00:15:36,970 To find out, 334 00:15:37,005 --> 00:15:40,491 mammoth evolution expert Steven Zhang 335 00:15:40,525 --> 00:15:43,011 is examining the remains found at the site. 336 00:15:43,045 --> 00:15:46,048 The teeth have given him a crucial clue. 337 00:15:46,083 --> 00:15:49,465 ZHANG: Looking at a mammoth tooth is like 338 00:15:49,500 --> 00:15:51,743 looking into a barcode for the mammoth itself. 339 00:15:51,778 --> 00:15:56,679 We start by counting the number of enamel ridges, so... 340 00:15:56,714 --> 00:15:58,854 This one has about 18, 341 00:15:58,888 --> 00:16:03,824 which is a very typical number for a steppe mammoth. 342 00:16:03,859 --> 00:16:05,447 Looking at this piece of tooth, 343 00:16:05,481 --> 00:16:09,658 we know that it's a last molar or a wisdom tooth. 344 00:16:09,692 --> 00:16:12,040 So we know this was a fully grown adult, 345 00:16:12,074 --> 00:16:13,351 except 346 00:16:13,386 --> 00:16:16,389 this is one of the smallest steppe mammoth teeth 347 00:16:16,423 --> 00:16:18,425 there probably is in existence. 348 00:16:18,460 --> 00:16:20,738 It's like 349 00:16:20,772 --> 00:16:23,775 finding a German shepherd the size of a Westie. 350 00:16:23,810 --> 00:16:25,605 ♪ 351 00:16:25,639 --> 00:16:28,711 ATTENBOROUGH: These teeth appear to be from a population of small 352 00:16:28,746 --> 00:16:30,817 steppe mammoths. 353 00:16:30,851 --> 00:16:33,233 Their reduced size could be a consequence 354 00:16:33,268 --> 00:16:36,719 of food becoming less abundant. 355 00:16:36,754 --> 00:16:39,515 If a steppe mammoth was here now, 356 00:16:39,550 --> 00:16:42,898 you would see that it wasn't particularly hairy, 357 00:16:42,932 --> 00:16:46,591 a sign that the climate must have been quite temperate. 358 00:16:46,626 --> 00:16:51,079 And as for size, well, the female was about my size, 359 00:16:51,113 --> 00:16:54,013 male a bit bigger, and the baby, 360 00:16:54,047 --> 00:16:56,808 well, I guess, like that. 361 00:16:56,843 --> 00:16:59,052 Must've been rather enchanting. 362 00:16:59,087 --> 00:17:03,815 [baby elephant squeals, adult lowing] 363 00:17:03,850 --> 00:17:08,268 ATTENBOROUGH: There are also remains of another type of mammoth. 364 00:17:08,303 --> 00:17:14,274 ZHANG: Over here, I would say this is a typical woolly mammoth. 365 00:17:14,309 --> 00:17:16,587 So these two different kind of beasts 366 00:17:16,621 --> 00:17:19,003 were occurring at the same site. 367 00:17:19,038 --> 00:17:22,075 One possibility was that this site 368 00:17:22,110 --> 00:17:26,838 was a habitat shared by both steppe and woolly mammoths, 369 00:17:26,873 --> 00:17:31,395 or, as woolly mammoths migrated westward 370 00:17:31,429 --> 00:17:33,500 from Siberia into Europe, 371 00:17:33,535 --> 00:17:37,401 they started to mingle with local steppe mammoths. 372 00:17:37,435 --> 00:17:39,472 This is interesting, 373 00:17:39,506 --> 00:17:43,924 because not often do we see a snapshot like this. 374 00:17:43,959 --> 00:17:45,685 It's exciting! 375 00:17:45,719 --> 00:17:47,756 ♪ 376 00:17:47,790 --> 00:17:52,450 ATTENBOROUGH: Our site could be rare evidence of a transitional stage, 377 00:17:52,485 --> 00:17:56,661 when woolly mammoths are taking over from steppe mammoths. 378 00:17:56,696 --> 00:17:58,767 These bones could have belonged 379 00:17:58,801 --> 00:18:02,702 to some of the last surviving steppe mammoths in Britain. 380 00:18:04,704 --> 00:18:08,846 ♪ 381 00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:10,675 Back at the dig, 382 00:18:10,710 --> 00:18:12,470 Sally and Neville have ringside seats 383 00:18:12,505 --> 00:18:17,441 as the professionals continue their meticulous search. 384 00:18:17,475 --> 00:18:20,513 ♪ 385 00:18:20,547 --> 00:18:22,446 NEVILLE: There is almost a forensic examination 386 00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:24,206 of the sediment and everything else. 387 00:18:24,241 --> 00:18:25,483 But that's so they... that's good, though. 388 00:18:25,518 --> 00:18:26,484 So they don't miss anything. 389 00:18:26,519 --> 00:18:28,935 NEVILLE: Yeah. 390 00:18:28,969 --> 00:18:31,489 SALLY: It's like a time travel through the gravel! 391 00:18:31,524 --> 00:18:36,287 ♪ 392 00:18:36,322 --> 00:18:39,187 I'd like them to solve the story. 393 00:18:39,221 --> 00:18:41,327 Was it hunted? 394 00:18:41,361 --> 00:18:43,087 That's the big question, isn't it? 395 00:18:43,122 --> 00:18:45,434 Yeah, one of the questions. 396 00:18:45,469 --> 00:18:47,022 What was the climate like? Yeah. 397 00:18:47,056 --> 00:18:48,057 What was the vegetation like? 398 00:18:49,576 --> 00:18:52,165 And also, what else was here? 399 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:55,237 Not just mammoths, but were there early humans, 400 00:18:55,272 --> 00:18:57,377 hominins, wandering about? Hm. 401 00:18:57,412 --> 00:18:58,758 Were there groups of people, because of the hand axe? 402 00:18:58,792 --> 00:19:00,380 Yes, there were, because we know that there's a hand axe. 403 00:19:03,107 --> 00:19:05,040 ATTENBOROUGH: You have established 404 00:19:05,074 --> 00:19:08,457 that there were mammoths here, 405 00:19:08,492 --> 00:19:10,079 and there were human beings 406 00:19:10,114 --> 00:19:12,012 alongside them, 407 00:19:12,047 --> 00:19:13,842 a human being wielding that axe? 408 00:19:13,876 --> 00:19:16,534 I can say at this particular site, 409 00:19:16,569 --> 00:19:18,812 there were definitely mammoths, there were definitely 410 00:19:18,847 --> 00:19:21,367 human beings... early human beings, admittedly, 411 00:19:21,401 --> 00:19:22,816 but I don't know yet 412 00:19:22,851 --> 00:19:23,990 if they were here at the exact same time. 413 00:19:24,024 --> 00:19:26,958 Now, the issue is, it could be like you or I 414 00:19:26,993 --> 00:19:28,822 walking on a Viking settlement and dropping a crisp packet. 415 00:19:28,857 --> 00:19:30,548 That's not from the same time period, obviously. 416 00:19:30,583 --> 00:19:31,929 Now, that might have happened here. 417 00:19:31,963 --> 00:19:34,034 I'll let you know in a few months. 418 00:19:34,069 --> 00:19:38,901 ♪ 419 00:19:38,936 --> 00:19:42,733 ATTENBOROUGH [voiceover]: Ben's "few months" becomes two years 420 00:19:42,767 --> 00:19:46,254 as COVID lockdowns keep the team away from the site. 421 00:19:46,288 --> 00:19:49,671 ♪ 422 00:19:49,705 --> 00:19:51,224 But in 2021, 423 00:19:51,259 --> 00:19:53,778 they pick up where they left off, 424 00:19:53,813 --> 00:19:57,403 this time with some mechanical help. 425 00:19:59,128 --> 00:20:03,512 ♪ 426 00:20:03,547 --> 00:20:05,238 If only we'd had this last time, 427 00:20:05,273 --> 00:20:08,034 it would have just made it so much easier! 428 00:20:08,068 --> 00:20:09,898 ♪ 429 00:20:09,932 --> 00:20:13,902 The idea at the moment is just to plane down to that level 430 00:20:13,936 --> 00:20:15,800 where we've got material that hasn't been disturbed. 431 00:20:15,835 --> 00:20:17,319 ♪ 432 00:20:17,354 --> 00:20:20,840 ATTENBOROUGH: They clear down to the undisturbed layers 433 00:20:20,874 --> 00:20:23,739 and dig new trenches. 434 00:20:23,774 --> 00:20:25,396 ♪ 435 00:20:25,431 --> 00:20:27,743 Mammoth bones soon begin to appear. 436 00:20:27,778 --> 00:20:29,607 Oh, wow! 437 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:32,817 That looks good, doesn't it? 438 00:20:32,852 --> 00:20:34,060 Look at that! 439 00:20:37,477 --> 00:20:38,547 GARROD: Wow! 440 00:20:38,582 --> 00:20:40,411 So you got this wonderful 441 00:20:40,446 --> 00:20:41,654 little tusk here. 442 00:20:41,688 --> 00:20:43,518 Beautiful, isn't it? 443 00:20:43,552 --> 00:20:46,624 ATTENBOROUGH: To determine the age of these finds, 444 00:20:46,659 --> 00:20:50,939 they send sediment samples from the trenches 445 00:20:50,973 --> 00:20:52,492 to a specialist lab. 446 00:20:52,527 --> 00:20:54,563 ♪ 447 00:20:54,598 --> 00:20:56,324 In darkroom conditions, 448 00:20:56,358 --> 00:21:00,638 grains of quartz from deep within the sediment 449 00:21:00,673 --> 00:21:03,779 are placed in a machine that records tiny levels 450 00:21:03,814 --> 00:21:07,680 of radiation. 451 00:21:07,714 --> 00:21:08,819 [machine whirring] 452 00:21:08,853 --> 00:21:11,442 The amount of radiation 453 00:21:11,477 --> 00:21:12,719 emitted by the grains 454 00:21:12,754 --> 00:21:15,929 reveals when they were last exposed to sunlight, 455 00:21:15,964 --> 00:21:18,311 and allows the team to estimate the age 456 00:21:18,346 --> 00:21:22,039 of the ancient river channel. 457 00:21:22,073 --> 00:21:24,973 Here we've got our distribution of age within our sample. 458 00:21:27,182 --> 00:21:28,942 So, these three age estimates indicate 459 00:21:28,977 --> 00:21:32,221 that the channel was formed about 215,000 years ago. 460 00:21:34,362 --> 00:21:35,984 ♪ 461 00:21:36,018 --> 00:21:40,885 ATTENBOROUGH: Our site dates to a period deep in the ice age. 462 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:43,888 But the ice age wasn't always icy. 463 00:21:43,923 --> 00:21:45,442 ♪ 464 00:21:45,476 --> 00:21:48,479 Over the last two-and-a-half million years, 465 00:21:48,514 --> 00:21:52,863 huge ice sheets traveled down from the north 466 00:21:52,897 --> 00:21:56,245 and then retreated during warmer spells. 467 00:21:57,971 --> 00:22:00,526 The advancing and retreating ice 468 00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:04,944 changed the sea level and the coastlines. 469 00:22:04,978 --> 00:22:06,946 But for most of this period, 470 00:22:06,980 --> 00:22:11,330 Britain was connected to mainland Europe. 471 00:22:11,364 --> 00:22:13,849 215,000 years ago, 472 00:22:13,884 --> 00:22:16,749 when the mammoths were living at our site, 473 00:22:16,783 --> 00:22:20,994 conditions were only slightly cooler than today, 474 00:22:21,029 --> 00:22:25,378 ideal for a variety of animals. 475 00:22:25,413 --> 00:22:28,105 And evidence of tiny creatures at the site 476 00:22:28,139 --> 00:22:30,245 enables us to piece together a portrait 477 00:22:30,279 --> 00:22:33,490 of what was growing on this land back then. 478 00:22:35,354 --> 00:22:39,081 JOSH HOGUE: There's loads of small shell fragments throughout this. 479 00:22:39,116 --> 00:22:40,773 ♪ 480 00:22:40,807 --> 00:22:44,466 We've got this little snailin here. 481 00:22:44,501 --> 00:22:46,848 ♪ 482 00:22:46,882 --> 00:22:50,679 ATTENBOROUGH: Environmental archaeologist Matt Law 483 00:22:50,714 --> 00:22:52,094 carefully identifies samples 484 00:22:52,129 --> 00:22:55,581 of tiny, but perfectly preserved, shells. 485 00:22:55,615 --> 00:22:57,272 ♪ 486 00:22:57,306 --> 00:22:59,792 LAW: We have one land snail in there, 487 00:22:59,826 --> 00:23:01,759 so that's a very common species 488 00:23:01,794 --> 00:23:06,419 of short grassland snail, and the rest are 489 00:23:06,454 --> 00:23:09,733 looking like they're coming from a, a river-type setting. 490 00:23:09,767 --> 00:23:12,632 Well-vegetated, well-oxygenated water, and, 491 00:23:12,667 --> 00:23:14,669 but not too much flow, either. 492 00:23:14,703 --> 00:23:17,913 What's really remarkable is the level of preservation. 493 00:23:17,948 --> 00:23:19,121 Not just the snails, 494 00:23:19,156 --> 00:23:22,435 but things like beetle remains, seeds, 495 00:23:22,470 --> 00:23:25,058 and bits of wood that we don't often see 496 00:23:25,093 --> 00:23:28,441 with the level of detail that they are here. 497 00:23:28,476 --> 00:23:32,203 ATTENBOROUGH: The discovery of these species of animals and plants 498 00:23:32,238 --> 00:23:34,723 enables us to get a quite detailed picture 499 00:23:34,758 --> 00:23:36,691 of what the landscape here was like 500 00:23:36,725 --> 00:23:39,556 when the mammoths were roaming around. 501 00:23:39,590 --> 00:23:42,213 This stretch of the ancient Thames 502 00:23:42,248 --> 00:23:45,907 was flowing through an open, grassy landscape, 503 00:23:45,941 --> 00:23:48,806 a perfect place for large herbivores to feed 504 00:23:48,841 --> 00:23:50,946 and find water. 505 00:23:50,981 --> 00:23:53,466 ♪ 506 00:23:53,501 --> 00:23:55,468 Back at the site, 507 00:23:55,503 --> 00:23:57,505 after weeks of searching for more hand axes 508 00:23:57,539 --> 00:24:00,300 or stone tools among the mammoth bones, 509 00:24:00,335 --> 00:24:04,339 there's been a breakthrough: 510 00:24:04,373 --> 00:24:06,583 the telltale signs of humans. 511 00:24:06,617 --> 00:24:11,035 I think this may be a flint artifact. 512 00:24:11,070 --> 00:24:14,038 ATTENBOROUGH: Ben is eager to see the new finds. 513 00:24:14,073 --> 00:24:16,972 It's really over in this area 514 00:24:17,007 --> 00:24:19,906 where we're starting to find the really exciting stuff. 515 00:24:21,529 --> 00:24:26,016 Hiding in this sand we have a relatively large 516 00:24:26,050 --> 00:24:30,330 piece of mammoth bone sticking from the surface. 517 00:24:30,365 --> 00:24:31,711 And just in the last few days, 518 00:24:31,746 --> 00:24:35,059 we've started to pick out just a couple of flints, so, 519 00:24:35,094 --> 00:24:37,924 little bits of stone which had been worked by humans. 520 00:24:37,959 --> 00:24:41,238 And they're next door, just 50 centimeters away 521 00:24:41,272 --> 00:24:42,308 from this lovely bit 522 00:24:42,342 --> 00:24:44,897 of what looks to be a leg bone of a mammoth. 523 00:24:47,382 --> 00:24:49,384 And you can see they'd been taking little chips 524 00:24:49,418 --> 00:24:53,526 out of the edge to create a sharp cutting surface, 525 00:24:53,561 --> 00:24:55,804 which they could scrape along bones, 526 00:24:55,839 --> 00:24:57,219 or along hides, to remove fat. 527 00:24:57,254 --> 00:25:01,465 Something as simple as this starts to connect those, 528 00:25:01,500 --> 00:25:03,985 those dots, starts to bring the human story 529 00:25:04,019 --> 00:25:05,365 together with the mammoths. 530 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:08,368 And, and that's really quite special. 531 00:25:08,403 --> 00:25:12,062 ♪ 532 00:25:15,652 --> 00:25:16,998 ATTENBOROUGH: The presence of these tiny fragments 533 00:25:17,032 --> 00:25:19,172 alongside the bone 534 00:25:19,207 --> 00:25:22,451 suggests people were here at the same time as the mammoths. 535 00:25:24,592 --> 00:25:27,146 The tool Sally and Neville found 536 00:25:27,180 --> 00:25:30,908 could also have been made by the same people. 537 00:25:30,943 --> 00:25:33,566 ♪ 538 00:25:33,601 --> 00:25:35,119 To find out how 539 00:25:35,154 --> 00:25:38,226 these early tools were made, Ben and I arrange 540 00:25:38,260 --> 00:25:41,919 to meet Karl Lee, an expert flintknapper. 541 00:25:41,954 --> 00:25:43,611 LEE: So here we go. 542 00:25:43,645 --> 00:25:48,236 [rock clinking, shattering] 543 00:25:48,270 --> 00:25:49,617 ♪ 544 00:25:49,651 --> 00:25:54,138 ATTENBOROUGH [voiceover]: Flint is a hard, glassy rock, 545 00:25:54,173 --> 00:25:56,106 often found near rivers and beaches. 546 00:25:56,140 --> 00:26:00,006 ♪ 547 00:26:00,041 --> 00:26:01,111 To shape it, 548 00:26:01,145 --> 00:26:03,700 Karl uses a rounded stone 549 00:26:03,734 --> 00:26:07,566 and then a piece of antler, just as early humans did. 550 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:09,050 There we go. 551 00:26:11,431 --> 00:26:14,331 That is amazing. 552 00:26:14,365 --> 00:26:16,229 That is amazing. 553 00:26:16,264 --> 00:26:17,817 Thank you very much. [chuckles] 554 00:26:17,852 --> 00:26:19,198 GARROD: What do you reckon, David? 555 00:26:19,232 --> 00:26:21,580 Could you take down a mammoth with one of those? 556 00:26:21,614 --> 00:26:22,926 I should certainly cut up a deer. 557 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:25,998 -They're around here. -LEE: Yes. 558 00:26:26,032 --> 00:26:26,999 If you killed it with a spear, 559 00:26:27,033 --> 00:26:28,690 that's for the butcher. 560 00:26:29,898 --> 00:26:33,074 And, and you butcher it in half-an-hour. 561 00:26:33,108 --> 00:26:36,595 So I have, completely normally, 562 00:26:36,629 --> 00:26:38,148 brought a piece of meat on the bone. 563 00:26:38,182 --> 00:26:39,943 LEE: Okay. 564 00:26:42,946 --> 00:26:45,500 ATTENBOROUGH: Gosh. 565 00:26:45,534 --> 00:26:47,053 Huh. 566 00:26:47,088 --> 00:26:49,159 Mind your fingers. 567 00:26:49,193 --> 00:26:50,194 -LEE: Yes, mind your fingers. -[chuckles]: Thanks, David. 568 00:26:51,575 --> 00:26:52,541 Oh, yeah. 569 00:26:52,576 --> 00:26:54,854 That's gone straight through. 570 00:26:59,100 --> 00:27:00,826 [flint cutting] 571 00:27:00,860 --> 00:27:03,898 ATTENBOROUGH: No problem at all. 572 00:27:03,932 --> 00:27:08,419 ATTENBOROUGH [voiceover]: Karl also shows us a second method of making stone tools, 573 00:27:08,454 --> 00:27:11,664 in which thin shards of flint, 574 00:27:11,699 --> 00:27:14,046 known as Levallois flakes, 575 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:16,807 are knocked away from a large flint core. 576 00:27:16,842 --> 00:27:19,327 ♪ 577 00:27:22,295 --> 00:27:26,748 I have to prepare a platform... 578 00:27:28,405 --> 00:27:31,511 ...at the base of the core, 579 00:27:31,546 --> 00:27:34,929 and then try and take a nice flake. 580 00:27:34,963 --> 00:27:36,862 Using this method, 581 00:27:36,896 --> 00:27:38,139 they're actually planning exactly 582 00:27:38,173 --> 00:27:39,761 what that flake's going to look like. 583 00:27:39,796 --> 00:27:42,246 So I'm going to be striking right at the base 584 00:27:42,281 --> 00:27:45,387 of the core here, and the flake will hopefully 585 00:27:45,422 --> 00:27:47,976 come off on the underside. 586 00:27:48,011 --> 00:27:51,014 That's a brave thing to say. [chuckles] 587 00:27:51,048 --> 00:27:53,982 ♪ 588 00:27:54,017 --> 00:27:55,674 [flint cracks] 589 00:27:55,708 --> 00:27:58,884 That is a Levallois flake. 590 00:27:58,918 --> 00:28:00,368 Now, do watch your fingers on that one, 591 00:28:00,402 --> 00:28:02,715 because it's... 592 00:28:02,750 --> 00:28:04,890 [blows]: It's going to be sharp. 593 00:28:04,924 --> 00:28:08,617 [clears throat] 594 00:28:08,652 --> 00:28:10,171 Yes, it's razor-sharp. Yeah. 595 00:28:10,205 --> 00:28:11,690 Razor-sharp. 596 00:28:11,724 --> 00:28:14,762 Where the edge is so thin, 597 00:28:14,796 --> 00:28:17,247 it's translucent... it looks as though 598 00:28:17,281 --> 00:28:19,801 it's all got a halo all around it. 599 00:28:19,836 --> 00:28:23,149 Really beautiful, actually. 600 00:28:23,184 --> 00:28:25,600 LEE: This is a very versatile technology. 601 00:28:25,634 --> 00:28:28,361 It's portable, very lightweight, 602 00:28:28,396 --> 00:28:30,639 rather than carrying around something 603 00:28:30,674 --> 00:28:32,745 four or five times the weight. 604 00:28:32,780 --> 00:28:34,609 I can't imagine you teaching me this 605 00:28:34,643 --> 00:28:37,405 without a really good grasp of language. 606 00:28:37,439 --> 00:28:41,547 Teaching this without language would be, 607 00:28:41,581 --> 00:28:43,445 in my opinion, impossible. 608 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:46,897 And I, my guess would be that children, 609 00:28:46,932 --> 00:28:49,589 just as they mimic their parents today, 610 00:28:49,624 --> 00:28:51,522 would have been mimicking 611 00:28:51,557 --> 00:28:52,696 their parents back then, as well. 612 00:28:52,731 --> 00:28:54,698 [chuckles] 613 00:28:56,562 --> 00:28:58,322 So, try and catch it about 614 00:28:58,357 --> 00:29:00,290 two millimeters back from the edge, 615 00:29:00,324 --> 00:29:03,707 so we... Oh, I've got it, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 616 00:29:03,742 --> 00:29:05,778 That's it, you're away. 617 00:29:08,367 --> 00:29:10,369 ATTENBOROUGH [voiceover]: For hundreds of thousands of years, 618 00:29:10,403 --> 00:29:13,752 human beings have passed on that sort of skill, 619 00:29:13,786 --> 00:29:16,927 that sort of insight into the materials 620 00:29:16,962 --> 00:29:19,343 that lay around them. 621 00:29:19,378 --> 00:29:22,588 ♪ 622 00:29:22,622 --> 00:29:25,177 Of course, they had to be fortunate to find 623 00:29:25,211 --> 00:29:27,800 such marvelous material as flint, 624 00:29:27,835 --> 00:29:29,595 but once they did, 625 00:29:29,629 --> 00:29:32,736 what fabulous things they created with it. 626 00:29:32,771 --> 00:29:36,188 ♪ 627 00:29:36,222 --> 00:29:40,606 So who were the flint-workers at Cerney Wick? 628 00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:44,990 We know very little about prehistoric people. 629 00:29:45,024 --> 00:29:48,821 Most evidence of their existence has decomposed 630 00:29:48,856 --> 00:29:53,930 and disappeared long ago, but their stone tools remain. 631 00:29:53,964 --> 00:29:57,105 They reveal the remarkable story 632 00:29:57,140 --> 00:29:59,142 of early species of humans 633 00:29:59,176 --> 00:30:02,904 spreading from Africa throughout Northern Europe. 634 00:30:02,939 --> 00:30:06,977 To find out which type of human was living 635 00:30:07,012 --> 00:30:11,671 at Cerney Wick, I've come to a secure facility in London. 636 00:30:11,706 --> 00:30:14,640 It holds one of the largest collections 637 00:30:14,674 --> 00:30:18,126 of prehistoric artifacts in the world. 638 00:30:18,161 --> 00:30:21,992 Curator Nick Ashton is a renowned expert 639 00:30:22,027 --> 00:30:23,822 on these ancient tools. 640 00:30:23,856 --> 00:30:28,067 He begins by showing me simple flint tools found 641 00:30:28,102 --> 00:30:31,208 near Happisburgh on the east coast of England. 642 00:30:31,243 --> 00:30:33,555 ASHTON: We know that in Africa they'd been making 643 00:30:33,590 --> 00:30:36,317 these tools for some two to three million years. 644 00:30:36,351 --> 00:30:38,560 But this is the earliest evidence that we have 645 00:30:38,595 --> 00:30:42,219 in Northern Europe of humans reaching this far north. 646 00:30:42,254 --> 00:30:44,670 Dates to an astonishing 900,000 years ago. 647 00:30:44,704 --> 00:30:45,809 So it's... How much? 648 00:30:45,844 --> 00:30:46,879 900,000 years ago. 649 00:30:46,914 --> 00:30:48,432 Really? 650 00:30:48,467 --> 00:30:49,882 So it's the earliest evidence 651 00:30:49,917 --> 00:30:51,780 for humans in Northern Europe. 652 00:30:53,748 --> 00:30:57,027 ATTENBOROUGH: In 2013, Nick's team made 653 00:30:57,062 --> 00:31:00,410 a truly extraordinary discovery at Happisburgh. 654 00:31:00,444 --> 00:31:04,103 A storm washed away sand on a beach 655 00:31:04,138 --> 00:31:07,727 and revealed ancient footprints set in hardened mud. 656 00:31:07,762 --> 00:31:11,421 They were the oldest human footprints ever documented 657 00:31:11,455 --> 00:31:15,183 outside of Africa, but within two weeks, 658 00:31:15,218 --> 00:31:19,636 they had vanished, washed away by incoming tides. 659 00:31:22,328 --> 00:31:24,883 It's thought that early humans spread out of Africa 660 00:31:24,917 --> 00:31:27,264 around two million years ago. 661 00:31:27,299 --> 00:31:29,646 A million years later, 662 00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:32,545 some of their descendants reached Britain. 663 00:31:34,513 --> 00:31:37,033 What sort of people was it who did this? 664 00:31:37,067 --> 00:31:39,449 I mean, did they have clothes of any kind? 665 00:31:39,483 --> 00:31:41,658 Were they covered in hair? 666 00:31:41,692 --> 00:31:43,936 I mean, do we, how, do we know what they looked like? 667 00:31:43,971 --> 00:31:45,558 We, we actually know very little, 668 00:31:45,593 --> 00:31:47,595 but the species of human 669 00:31:47,629 --> 00:31:49,942 in Europe at that time was Homo antecessor. 670 00:31:49,977 --> 00:31:52,082 They would have looked very similar to ourselves, 671 00:31:52,117 --> 00:31:53,808 apart from slightly different facial... 672 00:31:53,842 --> 00:31:55,223 But it's a guess whether they were hairy or not. 673 00:31:55,258 --> 00:31:57,501 It's a guess as to whether they're hairy... [laughs] 674 00:31:57,536 --> 00:31:59,400 ...or had extra body fat to cope 675 00:31:59,434 --> 00:32:00,435 with these cold winters. Yeah. 676 00:32:01,781 --> 00:32:04,923 ATTENBOROUGH [voiceover]: By 500,000 years ago, 677 00:32:04,957 --> 00:32:07,270 humans in Britain were capable of crafting hand axes 678 00:32:07,304 --> 00:32:10,825 like the one found at Cerney Wick. 679 00:32:10,859 --> 00:32:13,241 ASHTON: We know that they're hunting by this point, 680 00:32:13,276 --> 00:32:15,934 and they're certainly butchering a range of different 681 00:32:15,968 --> 00:32:18,798 deer, and probably larger animals, as well. 682 00:32:18,833 --> 00:32:20,490 And one of the important things is, if you're a hunter, 683 00:32:20,524 --> 00:32:22,457 you get to the carcass first. 684 00:32:22,492 --> 00:32:23,907 The hide is intact. 685 00:32:23,942 --> 00:32:25,944 It hasn't been chewed to bits by the hyenas 686 00:32:25,978 --> 00:32:28,981 or the other carnivores or the big cats. 687 00:32:29,016 --> 00:32:31,397 And that hide you would almost certainly use 688 00:32:31,432 --> 00:32:33,572 for either clothing or shelter 689 00:32:33,606 --> 00:32:36,368 to help you cope with those cold winters. 690 00:32:36,402 --> 00:32:40,303 ♪ 691 00:32:40,337 --> 00:32:44,134 ATTENBOROUGH: Humans first used fire in Africa, 692 00:32:44,169 --> 00:32:46,516 and by 400,000 years ago, 693 00:32:46,550 --> 00:32:49,312 they were using it in Northern Europe, as well. 694 00:32:49,346 --> 00:32:52,004 ♪ 695 00:32:52,039 --> 00:32:53,350 ASHTON: This is burnt flint. 696 00:32:53,385 --> 00:32:57,320 It's a block of flint that shattered under heat. 697 00:32:57,354 --> 00:33:00,461 What we think we're dealing with is a small campfire, 698 00:33:00,495 --> 00:33:02,601 which has all kinds of benefits. 699 00:33:02,635 --> 00:33:04,016 It's not just warm, 700 00:33:04,051 --> 00:33:07,813 it's not just keeping away big cats. 701 00:33:10,574 --> 00:33:13,370 It's also a hub for social life. 702 00:33:13,405 --> 00:33:16,787 It extends your daylight hours into the night. 703 00:33:16,822 --> 00:33:19,825 ♪ 704 00:33:19,859 --> 00:33:22,379 It means you begin to tell stories. 705 00:33:22,414 --> 00:33:25,175 It's all part of the development of language 706 00:33:25,210 --> 00:33:28,696 and those all-important social bonds that make us human. 707 00:33:28,730 --> 00:33:31,940 ♪ 708 00:33:36,876 --> 00:33:40,052 You paint a very, very convincing picture, actually, 709 00:33:40,087 --> 00:33:42,434 and anyone who's sat by a fire 710 00:33:42,668 --> 00:33:45,264 knows how hypnotic it can be. 711 00:33:45,299 --> 00:33:47,370 ATTENBOROUGH: Just sitting there watching the flames. 712 00:33:47,404 --> 00:33:48,854 ASHTON: Yeah, yeah. 713 00:33:48,888 --> 00:33:50,580 ATTENBOROUGH: That's a very exciting picture. 714 00:33:50,614 --> 00:33:53,548 ♪ 715 00:33:56,206 --> 00:34:00,797 ATTENBOROUGH [voiceover]: By 250,000 years ago, Levallois flakes 716 00:34:00,831 --> 00:34:04,801 appear like the ones that Karl had shown us. 717 00:34:04,835 --> 00:34:08,977 ASHTON: Here we have these carefully crafted points. 718 00:34:09,012 --> 00:34:11,704 And this is a massive step forward in terms of technology. 719 00:34:14,673 --> 00:34:18,056 ATTENBOROUGH [voiceover]: So where does our site fit in? 720 00:34:20,782 --> 00:34:23,785 I've brought Sally and Neville's stone tool. 721 00:34:26,202 --> 00:34:28,790 Now, this, which I know you haven't seen before... 722 00:34:28,825 --> 00:34:31,483 What... was found 723 00:34:31,517 --> 00:34:33,071 alongside this mammoth 724 00:34:33,105 --> 00:34:35,625 which we have been excavating. 725 00:34:35,659 --> 00:34:38,938 What does that tell you about dating, 726 00:34:38,973 --> 00:34:40,216 or indeed anything else? 727 00:34:40,250 --> 00:34:42,908 Well, it's undoubtedly a hand axe, 728 00:34:42,942 --> 00:34:46,049 and very typical of early Neanderthals, 729 00:34:46,084 --> 00:34:47,706 quite similar to some of these. 730 00:34:47,740 --> 00:34:50,191 I gather that the site dates to roughly 731 00:34:50,226 --> 00:34:51,744 about 200,000 years ago. 732 00:34:51,779 --> 00:34:53,712 So it would actually be contemporary 733 00:34:53,746 --> 00:34:55,645 with these Levallois points. 734 00:34:55,679 --> 00:34:56,991 But it's very different. 735 00:34:57,025 --> 00:35:00,408 Here we have a traditional hand axe. 736 00:35:00,443 --> 00:35:01,996 So what's going on? 737 00:35:02,030 --> 00:35:04,964 One idea is that you've got different populations 738 00:35:04,999 --> 00:35:07,174 coming in from different parts of Europe 739 00:35:07,208 --> 00:35:08,796 with different technologies. 740 00:35:08,830 --> 00:35:11,626 Another idea might be that maybe you've got 741 00:35:11,661 --> 00:35:15,182 a residual population in Britain, in Western Britain, 742 00:35:15,216 --> 00:35:16,804 who are still making hand axes. 743 00:35:16,838 --> 00:35:18,323 We're still talking about Neanderthals? 744 00:35:18,357 --> 00:35:19,979 We're still talking about Neanderthals. 745 00:35:20,014 --> 00:35:22,948 ♪ 746 00:35:27,125 --> 00:35:29,057 ATTENBOROUGH [voiceover]: Stone tools like these, 747 00:35:29,092 --> 00:35:31,750 together with rare fragments of human bone, 748 00:35:31,784 --> 00:35:35,892 reveal that four species of human have occupied Britain. 749 00:35:37,928 --> 00:35:41,069 The stone tools and the dating of our site both suggest 750 00:35:41,104 --> 00:35:43,210 that the humans who were living here 751 00:35:43,244 --> 00:35:45,660 were, in fact, Neanderthals. 752 00:35:45,695 --> 00:35:47,904 To find out more about them, 753 00:35:47,938 --> 00:35:52,667 Ben is meeting anthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi. 754 00:35:52,702 --> 00:35:55,636 So our ancestors and the ancestors of Neanderthals 755 00:35:55,670 --> 00:35:57,500 were in Africa, and then at some point, 756 00:35:57,534 --> 00:35:59,226 a group of them left, 757 00:35:59,260 --> 00:36:00,917 and we don't know where and we don't know when. 758 00:36:00,951 --> 00:36:02,850 But they became Neanderthals. 759 00:36:02,884 --> 00:36:04,783 We have sites all the way 760 00:36:04,817 --> 00:36:06,060 as far as Siberia, 761 00:36:06,094 --> 00:36:09,408 and then we have a whole pile of sites in Europe. 762 00:36:09,443 --> 00:36:11,169 Doesn't mean that they are a European species. 763 00:36:11,203 --> 00:36:12,308 It just means 764 00:36:12,342 --> 00:36:13,826 that a lot of the archaeologists are actually 765 00:36:13,861 --> 00:36:16,415 in Europe and were digging in their own backyards. 766 00:36:16,450 --> 00:36:18,417 We've got this massive array, actually, 767 00:36:18,452 --> 00:36:20,730 of Neanderthals in this whole region. 768 00:36:20,764 --> 00:36:22,663 And if you look at that region, 769 00:36:22,697 --> 00:36:24,734 that's a number of different environments, 770 00:36:24,768 --> 00:36:26,563 and a number of different climates, as well. 771 00:36:26,598 --> 00:36:28,634 And do we know what they looked like? 772 00:36:28,669 --> 00:36:32,017 Yeah, so Neanderthals were very similar to us, 773 00:36:32,051 --> 00:36:34,330 but there were crucial differences. 774 00:36:34,364 --> 00:36:36,470 So, for example, we know that Neanderthals, on average, 775 00:36:36,504 --> 00:36:39,197 were, well, they were shorter. 776 00:36:39,231 --> 00:36:41,129 So male Neanderthals would have come in at about 777 00:36:41,164 --> 00:36:43,235 five foot four, five foot five. 778 00:36:43,270 --> 00:36:45,064 They were also really stocky. 779 00:36:45,099 --> 00:36:47,239 But, you know, people have said, 780 00:36:47,274 --> 00:36:48,861 "Well, if you got a Neanderthal, 781 00:36:48,896 --> 00:36:51,036 "you gave him a shave, and you give him a bowler hat, 782 00:36:51,070 --> 00:36:53,866 you put him on the New York subway, would anyone notice?" 783 00:36:53,901 --> 00:36:56,075 And then somebody else obviously said, 784 00:36:56,110 --> 00:36:58,181 "Well, that probably says more about the New York subway 785 00:36:58,216 --> 00:36:59,527 than it does about Neanderthals."[laughs] 786 00:36:59,562 --> 00:37:01,391 But the point stands, you know. 787 00:37:01,426 --> 00:37:05,257 How different were they, really? 788 00:37:05,292 --> 00:37:09,227 ♪ 789 00:37:11,436 --> 00:37:13,092 ATTENBOROUGH: Back at the site, 790 00:37:13,127 --> 00:37:16,820 the team is finding that nearly all the tusks and bones 791 00:37:16,855 --> 00:37:19,237 are lying in a single layer of sediment, 792 00:37:19,271 --> 00:37:24,172 suggesting the mammoths all died around the same time. 793 00:37:24,207 --> 00:37:26,382 What could have killed a group 794 00:37:26,416 --> 00:37:29,108 of mammoths in such a short period? 795 00:37:29,143 --> 00:37:32,560 WILKINSON: And we can trace this layer pretty much all the way around 796 00:37:32,595 --> 00:37:35,080 to the tusk on the far side, now. 797 00:37:35,114 --> 00:37:36,599 So it's, they're all... 798 00:37:36,633 --> 00:37:39,187 It's all the, formed at the same time. 799 00:37:39,222 --> 00:37:40,672 And we can't see flooding? 800 00:37:40,706 --> 00:37:42,018 'Cause I'm just trying to think what's, 801 00:37:42,052 --> 00:37:43,985 what's forcible enough to move a tusk. 802 00:37:44,020 --> 00:37:45,504 No, there's nothing, I mean... 803 00:37:45,539 --> 00:37:47,955 This is, this is weird, 'cause there's not enough mud. 804 00:37:47,989 --> 00:37:50,268 There's not enough, there's no flood. No. 805 00:37:50,302 --> 00:37:52,097 They just died in this area for some reason. Yeah. 806 00:37:53,823 --> 00:37:56,929 ATTENBOROUGH: Ben is doubtful that the mammoth got stuck in the mud. 807 00:37:56,964 --> 00:37:58,793 GARROD: The mud's deep, but it's not 808 00:37:58,828 --> 00:38:02,314 up to a mammoth's armpits deep. 809 00:38:02,349 --> 00:38:04,730 Disease? I mean, there's nothing, really, 810 00:38:04,765 --> 00:38:06,456 in terms of, of modern relatives, that... 811 00:38:06,491 --> 00:38:07,768 the elephants... 812 00:38:07,802 --> 00:38:09,494 that would kill a whole group that quickly in one site 813 00:38:09,528 --> 00:38:11,496 at one time to explain this. 814 00:38:11,530 --> 00:38:13,394 And we've got adults and juveniles, as well. 815 00:38:13,429 --> 00:38:15,983 So it's not the classic elephant graveyard 816 00:38:16,017 --> 00:38:17,536 all, all being left in one site, either. 817 00:38:17,571 --> 00:38:20,539 And it leaves this idea, this possibility, 818 00:38:20,574 --> 00:38:21,989 that it was people. 819 00:38:22,023 --> 00:38:23,439 So were they chasing them in? 820 00:38:23,473 --> 00:38:25,855 Were they corralling them somehow? 821 00:38:25,889 --> 00:38:28,167 Were they... I, I don't know. 822 00:38:28,202 --> 00:38:31,999 But that's almost weirder, because I can't imagine 823 00:38:32,033 --> 00:38:34,657 quite early Neanderthal people 824 00:38:34,691 --> 00:38:36,486 bringing down a bunch of mammoths. 825 00:38:36,521 --> 00:38:38,799 Because these things were tons 826 00:38:38,833 --> 00:38:40,973 of anger and intelligence. 827 00:38:41,008 --> 00:38:43,942 ♪ 828 00:38:55,471 --> 00:38:58,025 ATTENBOROUGH: Evidence suggesting that 829 00:38:58,059 --> 00:38:59,958 Neanderthals could successfully 830 00:38:59,992 --> 00:39:02,857 hunt mammoths is extremely rare. 831 00:39:02,892 --> 00:39:06,378 But this is the island of Jersey, 832 00:39:06,413 --> 00:39:10,071 and here, at La Cotte de St. Brelade, 833 00:39:10,106 --> 00:39:13,005 piles of mammoth bones have been found 834 00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:15,974 that suggest that Neanderthals may indeed 835 00:39:16,008 --> 00:39:19,253 have been killing mammoths here. 836 00:39:19,287 --> 00:39:21,497 Archaeologist Matt Pope 837 00:39:21,531 --> 00:39:23,706 has been studying the site for years. 838 00:39:23,740 --> 00:39:27,295 POPE: Our first glimpse of La Cotte de St. Brelade, 839 00:39:27,330 --> 00:39:29,712 towering up above us. 840 00:39:29,746 --> 00:39:31,334 GARROD: Oh, wow, 841 00:39:31,369 --> 00:39:33,336 It's like this huge cathedral fortress, isn't it? 842 00:39:33,371 --> 00:39:35,511 It's beautiful. 843 00:39:35,545 --> 00:39:37,305 ♪ 844 00:39:39,894 --> 00:39:42,034 POPE: We can see a lot of the site from here, 845 00:39:42,069 --> 00:39:43,622 the main granite structure, 846 00:39:43,657 --> 00:39:46,245 the arch that takes you through to the north ravine, 847 00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:47,385 and in front of us, 848 00:39:47,419 --> 00:39:50,664 the west ravine, the main open space. 849 00:39:53,114 --> 00:39:57,429 ATTENBOROUGH: The site has been investigated since 1881. 850 00:39:57,464 --> 00:40:00,432 And over the years, archaeologists excavated 851 00:40:00,467 --> 00:40:02,434 down into the ravine. 852 00:40:02,469 --> 00:40:05,610 At two levels, they discovered 853 00:40:05,644 --> 00:40:10,373 heaps of bones of butchered mammoths. 854 00:40:10,408 --> 00:40:13,203 The mystery is how these bones got there. 855 00:40:15,067 --> 00:40:17,553 POPE: An original explanation, and a very good one, 856 00:40:17,587 --> 00:40:20,487 was that the mammoth were all herded together, 857 00:40:20,521 --> 00:40:22,316 by Neanderthal hunters, 858 00:40:22,350 --> 00:40:24,076 and driven over the cliffs to their death. 859 00:40:24,111 --> 00:40:25,492 So you imagine... GARROD: From right up there? 860 00:40:25,526 --> 00:40:26,907 POPE: From right up there. 861 00:40:26,941 --> 00:40:28,805 I mean, that's quite a thought, to think of 862 00:40:28,840 --> 00:40:31,049 a whole herd of mammoths coming cascading 863 00:40:31,083 --> 00:40:32,568 over the edge right there. 864 00:40:32,602 --> 00:40:34,639 POPE: It's a good theory, but it's not a very good 865 00:40:34,673 --> 00:40:36,813 headland for actually concentrating a herd. 866 00:40:36,848 --> 00:40:39,091 There is simply no way 867 00:40:39,126 --> 00:40:41,266 you could funnel the mammoth into this ravine. 868 00:40:41,300 --> 00:40:43,786 They'd be splitting off into all different directions. 869 00:40:43,820 --> 00:40:47,099 We've been recently relooking at those bone heaps 870 00:40:47,134 --> 00:40:48,687 and looking at the evidence, 871 00:40:48,722 --> 00:40:51,103 and we put forward an alternative idea. 872 00:40:51,138 --> 00:40:53,174 And that idea is that these bone heaps 873 00:40:53,209 --> 00:40:54,831 didn't form in one go... Mm-hmm. 874 00:40:54,866 --> 00:40:56,764 ...in mass kills. 875 00:40:56,799 --> 00:40:59,318 But actually, they formed over a long period of time, 876 00:40:59,353 --> 00:41:01,528 and the hunting was taking place out here 877 00:41:01,562 --> 00:41:03,771 on the surrounding landscapes. 878 00:41:03,806 --> 00:41:05,497 They were bringing these bones back, 879 00:41:05,532 --> 00:41:07,016 and then over time, 880 00:41:07,050 --> 00:41:09,570 they put these heaps of bone together. 881 00:41:09,605 --> 00:41:11,503 And this whole area, as we look at it now, 882 00:41:11,538 --> 00:41:13,056 it's this beautiful coastline 883 00:41:13,091 --> 00:41:15,127 that stretches out to the, the Channel here. 884 00:41:15,162 --> 00:41:17,544 But this would have all been one big grassy plain. 885 00:41:17,578 --> 00:41:21,271 POPE: We've got the seabed landscape mapped. 886 00:41:21,306 --> 00:41:23,619 There's little cul-de-sacs where you get dead ends, 887 00:41:23,653 --> 00:41:25,241 and you could control game. 888 00:41:25,275 --> 00:41:27,174 And we know from other Neanderthal sites where 889 00:41:27,208 --> 00:41:29,866 hunting is taking place, they love landscapes 890 00:41:29,901 --> 00:41:31,730 in which they control game. 891 00:41:31,765 --> 00:41:33,076 Probably the whole Neanderthal community 892 00:41:33,111 --> 00:41:34,664 would be involved in hunting, 893 00:41:34,699 --> 00:41:37,529 corralling, controlling, 894 00:41:37,564 --> 00:41:41,499 moving, isolating particular members of a herd. 895 00:41:41,533 --> 00:41:44,502 ♪ 896 00:41:44,536 --> 00:41:47,781 ATTENBOROUGH: Most archaeologists now think that the Neanderthals 897 00:41:47,815 --> 00:41:51,025 were capable of hunting large prey like mammoths, 898 00:41:51,060 --> 00:41:54,235 as they seem to have done in Jersey. 899 00:41:54,270 --> 00:41:56,341 But it would be much harder to trap them 900 00:41:56,375 --> 00:41:59,309 on the flat grasslands of Cerney Wick. 901 00:41:59,344 --> 00:42:04,142 Perhaps the river might have slowed the mammoths down. 902 00:42:04,176 --> 00:42:07,455 But how would the Neanderthals have killed them? 903 00:42:07,490 --> 00:42:11,149 Wooden spears may well have been used. 904 00:42:11,183 --> 00:42:13,565 Wood, of course, rots away quickly, 905 00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:16,568 so we're very unlikely to find one. 906 00:42:16,603 --> 00:42:19,606 But there are some. 907 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:22,125 ♪ 908 00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:24,507 In 1911, in Essex, 909 00:42:24,542 --> 00:42:27,993 a wooden spear tip was found in waterlogged soil. 910 00:42:29,892 --> 00:42:31,790 And in 1948, 911 00:42:31,825 --> 00:42:35,104 stronger evidence of spear hunting was uncovered. 912 00:42:35,138 --> 00:42:37,934 A spear was found within the fossilized ribs 913 00:42:37,969 --> 00:42:40,454 of a straight-tusked elephant. 914 00:42:42,421 --> 00:42:44,458 Then, in 1995, 915 00:42:44,492 --> 00:42:47,288 at a mine in Schoöningen in Germany, 916 00:42:47,323 --> 00:42:50,775 ten miraculously well preserved Neanderthal spears 917 00:42:50,809 --> 00:42:53,363 were found lying among the skeletons 918 00:42:53,398 --> 00:42:57,333 of around 50 horses, the oldest complete 919 00:42:57,367 --> 00:43:02,545 prehistoric hunting weapons ever found. 920 00:43:02,580 --> 00:43:06,307 Archaeologists had assumed these early hunters 921 00:43:06,342 --> 00:43:08,724 thrust their spears into the flanks 922 00:43:08,758 --> 00:43:12,313 of prey at close range. 923 00:43:12,348 --> 00:43:14,557 But could spears like this have been thrown 924 00:43:14,592 --> 00:43:17,974 at mammoths from a longer distance? 925 00:43:19,182 --> 00:43:22,082 To find out, we asked a wood carver 926 00:43:22,116 --> 00:43:27,259 to make exact replicas of the Schoöningen spears from spruce, 927 00:43:27,294 --> 00:43:28,916 the same shape, weight, and type of wood 928 00:43:28,951 --> 00:43:31,091 as the ancient spears. 929 00:43:31,125 --> 00:43:32,368 MILKS: Hi, guys. 930 00:43:32,402 --> 00:43:35,129 GARROD: We've brought you some spears. 931 00:43:35,164 --> 00:43:37,200 ATTENBOROUGH: Annemieke Milks is an investigator 932 00:43:37,235 --> 00:43:39,306 of Neanderthal hunting methods. 933 00:43:39,340 --> 00:43:41,929 She wants to see how well these replica 934 00:43:41,964 --> 00:43:44,207 Neanderthal spears will perform in the hands 935 00:43:44,242 --> 00:43:46,762 of Bekah Walton and Harry Hughes, 936 00:43:46,796 --> 00:43:50,455 two of Britain's leading javelin throwers. 937 00:43:50,489 --> 00:43:52,630 I'm really curious to see what 938 00:43:52,664 --> 00:43:55,494 an experienced thrower makes of how they feel. 939 00:43:55,529 --> 00:43:57,117 WALTON: They are the right length, 940 00:43:57,151 --> 00:43:58,497 compared to a normal spear. 941 00:43:58,532 --> 00:43:59,947 Yeah, the balance is really good. 942 00:43:59,982 --> 00:44:01,328 Yeah, they're surprisingly similar 943 00:44:01,362 --> 00:44:02,881 to a normal javelin, actually. Yeah. 944 00:44:04,780 --> 00:44:06,954 ATTENBOROUGH: Annemieke wants to test how 945 00:44:06,989 --> 00:44:09,336 the spears fly, and if they can be 946 00:44:09,370 --> 00:44:11,649 used accurately, to hit a target. 947 00:44:11,683 --> 00:44:12,926 GARROD: We want to know, 948 00:44:12,960 --> 00:44:15,169 can you two kill 949 00:44:15,204 --> 00:44:16,930 that mammoth silhouette for us, please? 950 00:44:16,964 --> 00:44:18,172 HUGHES: Okay, right, should we give it a go? 951 00:44:18,207 --> 00:44:19,208 WALTON: Let's go. 952 00:44:22,383 --> 00:44:23,384 [Garrod chortling] WALTON: Oh, my gosh. 953 00:44:23,419 --> 00:44:25,248 First time. 954 00:44:25,283 --> 00:44:30,322 ♪ 955 00:44:43,197 --> 00:44:45,786 MILKS: Up until fairly recently, 956 00:44:45,821 --> 00:44:48,720 most people were arguing that Neanderthals were 957 00:44:48,755 --> 00:44:51,930 only capable of hunting at immediate distances. 958 00:44:51,965 --> 00:44:55,175 And this shows that their technology 959 00:44:55,209 --> 00:44:57,764 was capable of distance hunting. 960 00:44:57,798 --> 00:45:02,285 ♪ 961 00:45:06,773 --> 00:45:08,775 [Garrod chortles] MILKS: Brilliant. 962 00:45:08,809 --> 00:45:11,087 ♪ 963 00:45:11,122 --> 00:45:12,606 GARROD: Okay, big question of the day. 964 00:45:12,640 --> 00:45:15,782 Our site, is there any chance that our Neanderthals 965 00:45:15,816 --> 00:45:17,335 could have been hunting mammoths, do you think? 966 00:45:17,369 --> 00:45:20,614 Given the fact that we have a whole load of evidence 967 00:45:20,648 --> 00:45:22,892 that the spears are functional weapons... 968 00:45:22,927 --> 00:45:26,206 both as thrusting weapons and as throwing weapons... 969 00:45:26,240 --> 00:45:28,864 and that we see this evidence 970 00:45:28,898 --> 00:45:32,522 of exploitation of mammoth, I think it's very much 971 00:45:32,557 --> 00:45:35,353 in the realm of possibility that mammoths were being 972 00:45:35,387 --> 00:45:37,907 hunted by Neanderthals with spears like these. 973 00:45:37,942 --> 00:45:40,876 ♪ 974 00:45:53,751 --> 00:45:57,340 ATTENBOROUGH: So Neanderthals could possibly have hunted mammoths 975 00:45:57,375 --> 00:46:00,688 at Cerney Wick over 200,000 years ago. 976 00:46:00,723 --> 00:46:04,865 ♪ 977 00:46:04,900 --> 00:46:07,281 But in the millennia that followed, 978 00:46:07,316 --> 00:46:11,389 both the Neanderthals and the steppe mammoths disappeared. 979 00:46:11,423 --> 00:46:14,219 ♪ 980 00:46:14,254 --> 00:46:18,120 Neanderthals resettled in Britain around 60,000 years ago. 981 00:46:18,154 --> 00:46:20,708 But our own species, Homo sapiens, 982 00:46:20,743 --> 00:46:23,504 arrives soon after that, 983 00:46:23,539 --> 00:46:27,370 and evidence of the presence of Neanderthals vanishes. 984 00:46:27,405 --> 00:46:29,752 AL-SHAMAHI: It might be 985 00:46:29,787 --> 00:46:32,030 that we out-competed them, right? 986 00:46:32,065 --> 00:46:36,069 We were just better at using the landscape and resources. 987 00:46:36,103 --> 00:46:38,347 One of the things that we know is that they 988 00:46:38,381 --> 00:46:41,384 lived in small, isolated populations. 989 00:46:41,419 --> 00:46:43,559 That is not going to do your gene pool any good. Hm. 990 00:46:43,593 --> 00:46:44,560 At all. 991 00:46:44,594 --> 00:46:45,941 There's even an argument 992 00:46:45,975 --> 00:46:47,494 that they're still with ustoday. 993 00:46:47,528 --> 00:46:49,289 Me and you will have about 994 00:46:49,323 --> 00:46:51,463 two percent Neanderthal DNA in us. 995 00:46:51,498 --> 00:46:53,534 And that's because our ancestors... 996 00:46:53,569 --> 00:46:55,536 multiple times, it seems... 997 00:46:55,571 --> 00:46:57,021 interbred with Neanderthals. 998 00:46:57,055 --> 00:46:58,677 So actually, the end of the story 999 00:46:58,712 --> 00:47:00,472 isn't completely tragic, 1000 00:47:00,507 --> 00:47:02,716 because it turns out that there's a little bit of them... 1001 00:47:02,750 --> 00:47:05,167 Still here. In us, yeah. 1002 00:47:05,201 --> 00:47:07,790 ♪ 1003 00:47:07,825 --> 00:47:09,757 ATTENBOROUGH: Back at the site at Cerney Wick, 1004 00:47:09,792 --> 00:47:12,243 there's excitement as they assess 1005 00:47:12,277 --> 00:47:14,245 their haul of flint tools. 1006 00:47:14,279 --> 00:47:16,868 [laughing]: Are you okay? Are you okay? 1007 00:47:16,903 --> 00:47:18,490 Breathe... I think he forgot to breathe. 1008 00:47:18,525 --> 00:47:20,251 Wow, wow. This, this lovely little flake. 1009 00:47:20,285 --> 00:47:22,322 So you can see it's got a little point 1010 00:47:22,356 --> 00:47:24,772 where they hit it with a stone hammer to remove it. 1011 00:47:24,807 --> 00:47:27,051 WESTSCOTT WILKINS: It's perfect. 1012 00:47:27,085 --> 00:47:29,467 WILKINS: Wow, and that was the first hint that you found? 1013 00:47:29,501 --> 00:47:31,296 -That was the first one, yeah. -WILKINS: So there was a party straight after that? 1014 00:47:31,331 --> 00:47:33,264 And then the next one we found... 1015 00:47:33,298 --> 00:47:35,231 WILKINS: Oh, my goodness. 1016 00:47:35,266 --> 00:47:36,923 ...is this beautiful scraper edge. 1017 00:47:36,957 --> 00:47:38,510 Typically we think, you know, you would have held it 1018 00:47:38,545 --> 00:47:39,684 like this. WESTSCOTT WILKINS: Look how it fits. 1019 00:47:39,718 --> 00:47:42,583 They would have pulled the fat off of the hide. 1020 00:47:42,618 --> 00:47:45,069 It's really quite impressive. 1021 00:47:45,103 --> 00:47:48,037 We've got these five flint tools all from the same area, 1022 00:47:48,072 --> 00:47:50,557 all finely worked, all really, really clear. 1023 00:47:50,591 --> 00:47:53,008 And that's quite exciting and quite rare. 1024 00:47:53,042 --> 00:47:55,044 I mean, it's really easy to say, "Oh, five things. 1025 00:47:55,079 --> 00:47:56,252 That's not many." 1026 00:47:56,287 --> 00:47:57,840 But actually, when we're talking about 1027 00:47:57,875 --> 00:47:59,497 200,000 years ago, 1028 00:47:59,531 --> 00:48:02,672 we might only be finding one or two things in a site 1029 00:48:02,707 --> 00:48:04,536 which has been excavated for decades. 1030 00:48:04,571 --> 00:48:06,676 ATTENBOROUGH: On the mammoth leg bone 1031 00:48:06,711 --> 00:48:09,748 they found next to the flints, they've seen scratch marks 1032 00:48:09,783 --> 00:48:13,580 that could provide evidence of butchery. 1033 00:48:13,614 --> 00:48:15,237 HOGUE: We see little marks and nicks... 1034 00:48:15,271 --> 00:48:16,963 WILKINS: Yeah... in the top. 1035 00:48:16,997 --> 00:48:18,826 HOGUE: Two lovely parallel lines. 1036 00:48:18,861 --> 00:48:20,552 There's one slightly longer. WILKINS: Yeah. 1037 00:48:20,587 --> 00:48:22,727 There's another one, just a short one, just in beside it. Yeah. 1038 00:48:22,761 --> 00:48:25,212 And it's really tempting to call them cut marks, 1039 00:48:25,247 --> 00:48:26,938 but we'll have to get it back into the lab 1040 00:48:26,973 --> 00:48:29,216 to actually determine. Yeah. 1041 00:48:29,251 --> 00:48:31,218 It's like a really big whodunit, isn't it? Mm-hmm. 1042 00:48:31,253 --> 00:48:33,289 So, did they all die of a disease? 1043 00:48:33,324 --> 00:48:35,291 Was there a massive flood that came in? 1044 00:48:35,326 --> 00:48:36,844 Or were we hunting them? 1045 00:48:36,879 --> 00:48:38,398 Having worked with elephants in the wild, 1046 00:48:38,432 --> 00:48:41,435 I think possibly, a juvenile, very, very young one 1047 00:48:41,470 --> 00:48:42,954 might have just got stuck in the mud. 1048 00:48:42,989 --> 00:48:44,404 It panicked the group. 1049 00:48:44,438 --> 00:48:47,131 Things went really badly really quickly, 1050 00:48:47,165 --> 00:48:49,547 and we came along as scavengers and possibly found 1051 00:48:49,581 --> 00:48:51,307 the world's biggest buffet lying there for us. 1052 00:48:51,342 --> 00:48:53,171 We're just opportunists, is what you're saying. 1053 00:48:53,206 --> 00:48:54,690 GARROD: I think we were opportunists. 1054 00:48:54,724 --> 00:48:57,244 HOGUE: Well, I just love the idea that the, you know, 1055 00:48:57,279 --> 00:48:59,384 Neanderthals are sitting on the ridge over the far end, 1056 00:48:59,419 --> 00:49:03,423 hiding amongst the tall grass. 1057 00:49:03,457 --> 00:49:04,976 And then mammoths are coming down 1058 00:49:05,011 --> 00:49:07,979 to the water and they're panicking them. 1059 00:49:08,014 --> 00:49:09,912 Neanderthals come in and they take advantage 1060 00:49:09,947 --> 00:49:12,397 of, of the mammoths, they sort of start butchering 1061 00:49:12,432 --> 00:49:15,953 and taking away the nice meat for meals. 1062 00:49:18,093 --> 00:49:20,026 GARROD: Isn't it wonderful to think that the last time 1063 00:49:20,060 --> 00:49:22,373 someone sat exactly on this spot 1064 00:49:22,407 --> 00:49:25,031 in a little group with that stone tool in their hands 1065 00:49:25,065 --> 00:49:27,102 was 200,000 years ago, 1066 00:49:27,136 --> 00:49:29,483 -as a mammoth lying just over there? -WILKINS: Wow. 1067 00:49:29,518 --> 00:49:30,968 And here we are talking about it... 1068 00:49:31,002 --> 00:49:32,417 Yeah, they were about to have their lunch. 1069 00:49:32,452 --> 00:49:33,901 ...hundreds of thousands of years later. Yeah. 1070 00:49:33,936 --> 00:49:35,351 It's quite poignant, isn't it? 1071 00:49:35,386 --> 00:49:36,766 WILKINS: Yeah, absolutely. It really is. 1072 00:49:36,801 --> 00:49:40,563 ♪ 1073 00:49:40,598 --> 00:49:42,151 ATTENBOROUGH: The evidence paints 1074 00:49:42,186 --> 00:49:44,912 a tantalizing picture of ice age Britain: 1075 00:49:44,947 --> 00:49:47,329 an ancient River Thames 1076 00:49:47,363 --> 00:49:50,470 flowing through grassland; 1077 00:49:50,504 --> 00:49:54,681 a group of some of the last steppe mammoths in Britain; 1078 00:49:54,715 --> 00:49:57,442 and Neanderthals using flint tools 1079 00:49:57,477 --> 00:50:00,169 to butcher mammoth meat. 1080 00:50:00,204 --> 00:50:03,379 Whether or not they hunted the mammoths 1081 00:50:03,414 --> 00:50:05,692 requires more evidence, 1082 00:50:05,726 --> 00:50:07,314 but at this site, it certainly looks 1083 00:50:07,349 --> 00:50:10,248 as if something extraordinary happened: 1084 00:50:10,283 --> 00:50:13,251 Neanderthals feasting on mammoth 1085 00:50:13,286 --> 00:50:16,047 on the banks of the River Thames. 1086 00:50:16,082 --> 00:50:18,601 At the end of the dig 1087 00:50:18,636 --> 00:50:21,190 and before the area is flooded again, 1088 00:50:21,225 --> 00:50:24,297 we invite Sally and Neville to return to the site 1089 00:50:24,331 --> 00:50:26,885 so that we can show them what the scene 1090 00:50:26,920 --> 00:50:28,715 might once have looked like. 1091 00:50:28,749 --> 00:50:29,992 SALLY: Okay. GARROD: We've prepared something 1092 00:50:30,027 --> 00:50:31,235 where... 1093 00:50:31,269 --> 00:50:33,582 [exhales]: You don't have to use 1094 00:50:33,616 --> 00:50:36,964 your imagination to, to visualize this area. 1095 00:50:36,999 --> 00:50:38,069 If I give these to you... 1096 00:50:38,104 --> 00:50:39,243 Okay, cool. Thank you. 1097 00:50:39,277 --> 00:50:41,590 Put them on, make sure they're comfy, and enjoy. 1098 00:50:41,624 --> 00:50:43,385 Righty-ho. 1099 00:50:43,419 --> 00:50:46,526 ♪ 1100 00:50:51,151 --> 00:50:53,740 [squeals]: Mammoth! [laughing] 1101 00:50:53,774 --> 00:50:57,330 ♪ 1102 00:50:57,364 --> 00:50:58,952 Oh, that is just incredible. 1103 00:50:58,986 --> 00:51:01,817 ♪ 1104 00:51:01,851 --> 00:51:04,199 SALLY: Oh, my God, that's amazing. 1105 00:51:04,233 --> 00:51:07,098 ♪ 1106 00:51:07,133 --> 00:51:10,205 ATTENBOROUGH: The finds at this remarkable site 1107 00:51:10,239 --> 00:51:14,416 have given us a rare glimpse of early Britain. 1108 00:51:14,450 --> 00:51:17,108 ♪ 1109 00:51:17,143 --> 00:51:20,594 A time when humans were fully immersed in the wild, 1110 00:51:20,629 --> 00:51:23,114 living as part of nature. 1111 00:51:23,149 --> 00:51:26,531 ♪ 1112 00:51:26,566 --> 00:51:29,189 It's thought that Neanderthals may have been around 1113 00:51:29,224 --> 00:51:32,261 for some 400,000 years. 1114 00:51:32,296 --> 00:51:35,816 Their survival relied on their 1115 00:51:35,851 --> 00:51:38,578 understanding of the natural world. 1116 00:51:41,650 --> 00:51:44,170 Whether our own species can thrive 1117 00:51:44,204 --> 00:51:48,864 for quite as long remains to be seen. 1118 00:51:48,898 --> 00:51:51,832 ♪ 84141

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