"(male narrator) EUROPE, 30.000 YEARS AGO." "AS A BONE-CHILLING ICE AGE GRIPS THE CONTINENT," "TWO HUMAN SPECIES ARE GOING HEAD-TO-HEAD" "IN A BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL." "IN ONE CORNER, THE NEANDERTHAL:" "SHORT, STOCKY, AND BUILT FOR BRUTE STRENGTH." "IN THE OTHER, THE CRO-MAGNON, OUR OWN SPECIES:" "THINNER, WEAKER, BUT SMARTER." "IT IS AN EPIC BATTLE OF BRAINS VERSUS BRAWN," "AND THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE WINNER." "TWO HUMAN SPECIES, ONE FROZEN CONTINENT:" "IT'S NEANDERTHALS VERSUS CRO-MAGNONS" "FOR CONTROL OF THE EARTH." "[intense percussive music]" "IMAGINE, IF YOU WILL," "A WORLD IN WHICH TWO SEPARATE SPECIES OF HUMANS COEXIST." "RECENT DISCOVERIES IN THE GROUND AND THE LAB" "HAVE PROVEN THAT THIS SCENARIO ISN'T SCIENCE FICTION." "IT'S SCIENCE PAST." "[all breathing heavily]" "(narrator) PREPARE TO MEET TWO FAMILIES, ONE A STRUGGLING NEANDERTHAL CLAN," "THE OTHER A NOMADIC TRIBE OF CRO-MAGNONS" "WHOSE CLOSE ENCOUNTER REPRESENTS, TO THE BEST OF OUR CURRENT KNOWLEDGE," "WHAT MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED WHEN THE CAVEMEN CLASHED." "NORTHERN ITALY: 28.000 B.C." "AFTER FOUR LONG HOURS IN PURSUIT," "A GROUP OF NEANDERTHAL HUNTERS ARE CLOSING IN ON A REINDEER HERD." "[dramatic music]" "IF THEY ARE SUCCESSFUL, IT WILL BE THEIR FIRST KILL" "IN ALMOST A WEEK." "THEY NEED ONE BADLY." "FOR COUNTLESS MILLENNIA, THEIR ANCESTORS HAVE LIVED WELL OFF THIS LAND," "BUT WITH TEMPERATURES NOW PLUMMETING TO 25 BELOW," "THE HERDS ARE FEWER AND FARTHER BETWEEN." "AS THE HUNTERS PREPARE TO STRIKE," "THEY'RE STARTLED BY A STRANGE SPEAR THAT LANDS DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO THEM." "[exotic flute and percussive music]" "♪ ♪" "AT FIRST, THEY ASSUME THAT THE WEAPON MUST BELONG" "TO A RIVAL NEANDERTHAL CLAN COMPETING FOR THE SAME PREY," "BUT SOMETHING IS DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS SPEAR." "IT'S LIGHTER AND SHARPER" "THAN ANY THEY'VE EVER SEEN BEFORE." "[men speaking indistinctly]" "MOMENTS LATER, THEY HEAR LOUD, STRANGE VOICES... [men speaking indistinctly]" "AND AN ODD-LOOKING GROUP OF HUNTERS APPEARS OUT OF NOWHERE... (man) HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY." "(narrator) ON THE MOVE TOWARD THE HERD." "THE CLAN IS TOO PETRIFIED TO MOVE." "WHO ARE THESE STRANGE MEN?" "(Rennie) WE REALLY HAVE NO HISTORICAL PARALLEL" "FOR UNDERSTANDING WHAT IT COULD HAVE BEEN LIKE" "TO SHARE OUR WORLD WITH A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TYPE OF HUMAN BEING." "THIS REALLY WOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE SHARING THE EARTH WITH ALIENS FROM ANOTHER WORLD." "(narrator) THE HUNTERS ARE CRO-MAGNONS," "PRONOUNCED CRO-MAN-YONS BY SOME EXPERTS." "THEY ARE THE FIRST FULLY MODERN HUMANS IN EUROPE," "NAMED FOR THE SITE IN FRANCE WHERE THEIR REMAINS" "WERE FIRST UNCOVERED." "THEY HAVE RECENTLY MIGRATED TO EUROPE FROM THE MIDDLE EAST" "AFTER EVOLVING IN AFRICA." "[intense music]" "WITHIN SECONDS, THE CRO-MAGNONS HAVE FELLED FOUR OF THE REINDEER." "(Shea) BEFORE THE ANIMALS HAD A CHANCE TO REACT," "BANG, IT'S BEEN HIT BY A PROJECTILE WEAPON;" "IT'S MORTALLY WOUNDED." "(narrator) FOUR KILLS AT ONCE." "IT'S AN ASTOUNDING SUCCESS RATE" "MADE POSSIBLE BY CUTTING-EDGE WEAPON TECHNOLOGY." "(Shea) THESE ARE BONE AND ANTLER POINTS THAT ARE POLISHED" "AND CARVED TO A VERY SHARP TIP." "THEY'RE SMOOTH AND AERODYNAMICALLY STREAMLINED," "SO THERE IS VERY LITTLE DRAG." "THEY PENETRATE VERY DEEPLY." "(narrator) NEANDERTHALS DON'T HAVE THE CAPABILITY" "FOR THESE KIND OF LONG-RANGE KILLS." "THEIR SPEARS ARE CRUDER AND ONLY WORK" "WHEN THEY'RE EXTREMELY CLOSE TO THEIR PREY." "THESE ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF THE SORT OF SPEARS" "WE BELIEVE NEANDERTHALS USED." "NOW, SOME NEANDERTHALS WOULD PUT STONE TIPS ON THEIR SPEARS." "THIS IS PROBABLY NOT A THROWING WEAPON." "THIS IS PROBABLY A THRUSTING WEAPON," "LIKE A BAYONET." "WHY?" "WELL, STONE'S BRITTLE, AND IF YOU THREW THIS" "AND IT HIT A TREE, HIT A ROCK, THE WEAPON'S USELESS." "(narrator) THE NEANDERTHALS ARE ASTOUNDED" "BY THE STRANGE HUNTERS AND ALSO DEEPLY WARY OF THEM." "(Dibble) WE'RE SO USED TO SEEING STRANGERS." "YOU CAN GO OUT, GO TO WORK EVERYDAY;" "YOU'RE GOING TO SEE HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE" "THAT YOU NEVER MET BEFORE." "THESE PEOPLE DIDN'T HAVE THAT EXPERIENCE." "THEY MAYBE MET STRANGERS A FEW TIMES IN THEIR LIFE." "HOW WOULD YOU REACT SEEING SOMEONE" "WHO IS VERY CLOSE TO YOU BUT AT THE SAME TIME DIFFERENT?" "THEY HAD NO WORLDVIEW OF THAT." "(narrator) WITH THEIR REINDEER HUNT RUINED BY CRO-MAGNONS, THE ONLY REWARD" "THE NEANDERTHALS TOOK AWAY FROM THE ENCOUNTER WAS THIS STRANGE SPEAR." "THEY STUDIED IT, MADE A FEW CRUDE COPIES OF IT," "AND TRIED HUNTING THE WAY THEIR COMPETITORS HAD THAT DAY," "BUT THEY COULDN'T QUITE MASTER THE THROWING MOTION" "OR THE MANUFACTURE OF SUCH SHARP AND STURDY SPEAR TIPS." "PROJECTILE WEAPONRY IS VERY COMPLEX." "IT REQUIRES A LOT OF TIME TO MAKE A POLISHED BONE POINT," "A LOT OF TIME TO SELECT EXACTLY THE RIGHT KIND OF WOOD TO MAKE A SHAFT," "AND A LOT OF TIME TO PREPARE THE LASHING" "FOR ATTACHING THE SPEAR POINT TO THE SHAFT." "[horse whinnying]" "THE EARLY MODERN HUMANS SOLVED PROBLEMS WITH TECHNOLOGY" "THAT NEANDERTHALS WERE SOLVING WITH STRENGTH." "(narrator) THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NEANDERTHAL" "AND CRO-MAGNON WEAPONS MAY REVEAL DEEPER DIFFERENCES" "IN THEIR COGNITIVE POTENTIAL." "WHILE IT MAY BE UNFAIR TO CHARACTERIZE THE NEANDERTHALS" "AS ALL BRAWN AND NO BRAINS," "THE RELATIVE SIMPLICITY OF THEIR TOOLS IMPLIES" "A RELATIVE SIMPLICITY OF THOUGHT." "(Rennie) BUT IF YOU GO INSIDE THE SKULL AND YOU ACTUALLY START TO MEASURE THE VOLUME" "OF SPACE THAT THEIR BRAINS HAD," "WHAT YOU DISCOVER IS THAT THEIR BRAINS WERE..." "WERE ACTUALLY PROBABLY A LITTLE BIT BIGGER THAN OURS WERE." "BUT, YOU KNOW, WHEN IT COMES TO BRAINS, IT'S NOT JUST SIZE THAT MATTERS... [man grunting]" "(Rennie) YOU HAVE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT WHEN WE LOOK" "AT THE RECORD OF NEANDERTHAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS," "THEY CLEARLY DID NOT STACK UP IN ALL RESPECTS" "AS WELL AS MODERN HUMANS DID." "SOMETHING WAS DIFFERENT ABOUT THEM." "(narrator) BEFORE MODERN HUMANS ARRIVED IN EUROPE," "NEANDERTHALS HAD THRIVED UNCHALLENGED ON THAT CONTINENT" "FOR MORE THAN 100.000 YEARS." "BUT AFTER CONTACT WITH OUR SPECIES," "THEY DISAPPEARED WITHIN A FEW THOUSAND YEARS." "WAS THIS COINCIDENCE OR CONQUEST?" "(Tattersall) THE NEANDERTHALS DID VERY VERY WELL IN EUROPE" "OVER MANY, MANY MILLENNIA OF CHANGING CLIMATES" "AND DIFFERENT CONDITIONS AND CIRCUMSTANCES," "AND REALLY, THE ONLY TRULY NEW THING IN THEIR LIVES" "AT THE END OF THEIR TENURE IN EUROPE" "WAS THE APPEARANCE OF HOMO SAPIENS." "(narrator) IT'S BEEN ESTIMATED THAT ALL THE FOSSILS" "ASSOCIATED WITH NEANDERTHALS AND EARLY MODERN HUMANS" "CAN FIT INTO THE BACK OF ONE PICKUP TRUCK," "SO THERE'S NOT A LOT OF MATERIAL AVAILABLE" "FROM WHICH TO RECONSTRUCT THE EVENTS" "THAT TRANSPIRED BETWEEN THEM 30.000 YEARS AGO." "ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE INDICATES THAT NEANDERTHALS AND MODERN HUMANS" "SHARED THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS" "BEFORE THE NEANDERTHALS DIED OUT." "(Holliday) THE EARLIEST MODERN EUROPEAN THAT WE HAVE DATED THUS FAR," "AND IT'S A DIRECT RADIOCARBON DATE OF THE SKULL ITSELF," "IS THE SITE OF OASE IN ROMANIA." "THAT'S ABOUT 35.000 YEARS AGO." "AT THE SAME TIME, WE HAVE LATE-SURVIVING NEANDERTHALS" "IN SOUTHERN IBERIA, SITES LIKE ZAFARRAYA," "WHERE THEY'RE SURVIVING TO ABOUT 30.000 YEARS AGO," "SO THAT GIVES US 5.000 YEARS OF OVERLAP" "WHERE NEANDERTHALS AND MODERN HUMANS WERE BOTH IN EUROPE." "(narrator) THE OVERLAP MAY EVEN BE LONGER THAN THAT." "WHILE THE EARLIEST BONES OF OUR SPECIES FOUND IN EUROPE" "ARE AT LEAST 35.000 YEARS OLD," "ARTIFACTS THAT ARE LINKED TO HOMO SAPIENS" "DATE BACK TO 45.000 YEARS AGO." "(Harvati) AND WE HAVE THE CAVE PAINTINGS." "WE HAVE SCULPTURES THAT DATE TO, ACTUALLY, VERY, VERY EARLY ON," "AND WE HAVE FLUTES, EVIDENCE FROM MUSIC." "AND THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOR CONTRASTS QUITE SHARPLY" "WITH WHAT CAME BEFORE, WITH THE NEANDERTHAL" "TYPES OF BEHAVIOR THAT DIDN'T SHOW ANY OF THIS" "SYMBOLIC, COMPLICATED ACTIVITIES." "(narrator) WE'VE KNOWN ABOUT NEANDERTHALS FOR THE PAST 150 YEARS." "WE TEND TO THINK OF THEM AS THE ULTIMATE CAVEMEN:" "HAIRY, SCARY, AND DIM-WITTED," "BUT ONLY NOW ARE WE BEGINNING TO REALLY KNOW THEM," "THANKS TO A RECENT BREAKTHROUGH THAT HAS OPENED THE GENETIC FLOODGATES." "(Egholm) WE HAVE DEVELOPED A NEW SEQUENCING TECHNOLOGY" "THAT'S 100 TO A 1.000 TIMES FASTER THAN BEFORE" "AND THAT BASICALLY ALLOW US TO GO IN AND READ" "ALL THE LETTERS IN OLD BONE FRAGMENTS." "WE WERE ABLE TO EXTRACT DNA" "FROM A 38.000-YEAR-OLD BONE" "AND THEN ACTUALLY MAKE SENSE OF IT AND SEE" "FOR OURSELVES THAT WE WERE" "REALLY CLOSE TO THE NEANDERTHALS." "(narrator) NEW DNA DATA WILL GIVE SCIENTISTS" "A CLEARER PICTURE OF EVERYTHING FROM LANGUAGE" "TO HAIR COLOR TO THE LIKELIHOOD OF THE NEANDERTHALS" "INTERBREEDING WITH OUR OWN KIND." "(Rennie) IS THERE ANY POSSIBILITY THAT WE CAN FIND SORT OF" "DISTINCTIVE NEANDERTHAL DNA IN WITH OUR OWN?" "THAT WOULD BE A CLEAR INDICATION OF SOME SORT OF INTERBREEDING" "HAVING TAKEN PLACE." "(narrator) BUT THERE'S ONE LINGERING MYSTERY THAT DNA ALONE MAY NOT SOLVE." "IT IS THE EXTINCTION OF THE NEANDERTHALS" "AND WHETHER OUR OWN ANCESTORS IN EUROPE," "THE CRO-MAGNONS, KILLED THEM OFF." "[intense percussive music]" "WHILE EXPERTS DON'T YET HAVE INDISPUTABLE PROOF" "OF WHAT HAPPENED," "THE LATEST GENETIC AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDINGS" "CAN SERVE AS A GUIDE FOR US TO IMAGINE" "MORE COMPLETELY THAN EVER BEFORE A PLAUSIBLE SCENARIO" "IN WHICH THESE TWO DISTINCT HUMANS COLLIDE." "[haunting intense music]" "♪ ♪" "(narrator) IN 28.000 B.C.," "THE LAST ICE AGE IS IN FULL SWING" "AND TIMES ARE DESPERATE IN EUROPE." "(Dibble) WHEN IT GETS COLD, IT GETS COLD." "I MEAN, REINDEER ARE INHABITING SOUTHERN FRANCE." "SO THAT'S KIND OF UNUSUAL BY OUR VIEW TODAY." "(Rennie) THESE WERE VERY SEVERE TIMES." "THE GLACIERS EXTENDED DOWN DEEP INTO GERMANY." "THEY OBLITERATED WHAT WERE THE BRITISH ISLES AND IRELAND," "AND THEY FORCED THE NEANDERTHALS TO HAVE TO RETREAT" "TO LARGELY PARTS OF SOUTHERN EUROPE." "THAT MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN BAD," "EXCEPT FOR THE SECOND BIG FACTOR, WHICH WAS THAT SUDDENLY THEY HAD NEIGHBORS." "[fire crackling]" "(narrator) IN OUR HYPOTHETICAL SCENARIO," "THIS NEANDERTHAL CLAN IS STILL REELING" "FROM THEIR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH MODERN HUMANS." "IN THE WEEKS FOLLOWING THEIR UNSUCCESSFUL REINDEER HUNT," "THE CRO-MAGNON PROBLEM HAS ONLY GOTTEN WORSE FOR THEM." "[speaking indistinctly]" "(narrator) A PREDAWN AMBUSH ON THEIR CAVE" "HAS LEFT SEVERAL OF THEIR CLAN SEVERELY INJURED." "[upbeat percussive music]" "THE PERPETRATORS WERE AN AGGRESSIVE BAND" "OF CRO-MAGNONS LOOKING FOR SPOILS:" "MEAT, ANIMAL SKINS, EVEN WOMEN." "IN THE CHAOS, TWO TEENAGE GIRLS, SISTERS," "HAVE BEEN ABDUCTED." "THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THESE NEANDERTHALS" "HAVE BEEN ATTACKED OUTRIGHT IN THEIR OWN ENCAMPMENT," "AND UNLESS THEY LEARN FAST HOW TO DEAL" "WITH THIS STRANGE NEW ENEMY, IT MAY NOT BE THE LAST." "THE NEXT MORNING, THE AGGRESSORS ARE RETURNING" "TO THEIR OWN CAMP WITH THE SPOILS OF CONQUEST." "[yelling]" "(narrator) THESE ARE THE FIRST NEANDERTHAL CAPTIVES" "EVER TAKEN BY THE CRO-MAGNONS." "[men yelling]" "THE TRIBE'S LEADER IS PLEASED." "IT IS HIS FIRST OPPORTUNITY TO EXAMINE" "THESE MYSTERIOUS RIVALS UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL." "(Dibble) YOU HAVE SUCH A GULF OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEM." "THE TECHNOLOGIES ARE DIFFERENT." "I'M SURE LANGUAGE WAS DIFFERENT." "WE DON'T EVEN KNOW IF NEANDERTHALS HAD LANGUAGE," "SO THEY VERY MAY WELL HAVE SEEN THEM AS SOMETHING VERY, VERY STRIKINGLY DIFFERENT." "(narrator) EVER SINCE THE FIRST NEANDERTHAL SKULLCAP" "WAS IDENTIFIED IN THE NEANDER VALLEY OF GERMANY" "IN 1856, DEBATE HAS RAGED" "OVER WHETHER THESE STRIKING DIFFERENCES" "SIGNIFY A DIFFERENT RACE OR AN ENTIRELY SEPARATE SPECIES." "AT A QUICK GLANCE, THE SKULLS OF NEANDERTHALS AND MODERN HUMANS LOOK SIMILAR," "BUT A CLOSER INSPECTION REVEALS SOME SIGNIFICANT DISPARITIES." "(Rennie) IF YOU LOOK AT A MODERN HUMAN SKULL FROM THE SIDE," "IT ALMOST LOOKS ROUND, BUT THE SKULL OF A NEANDERTHAL" "IS ALMOST SHAPED LIKE A FOOTBALL, BECAUSE IT'S SO FLATTENED AND ELONGATED." "(narrator) BELOW THE NECK, NEANDERTHALS WERE MORE ROBUST THAN WE ARE." "THEIR RIB CAGES WERE WIDE AND TAPERED OUT" "TO SUPPORT A THICK LAYER OF MUSCLE AND A MASSIVE CHEST." "THEIR BODIES AND LIMBS WERE SHORTER AND THICKER THAN OURS," "MAKING THE NEANDERTHALS WELL ENGINEERED" "FOR EXTREME COLD." "IF YOU'RE STOCKIER AND YOU HAVE SHORTER LIMBS," "YOU HAVE A LOWER RELATIVE SURFACE AREA," "WHICH MEANS YOU TEND TO RETAIN HEAT, AND RETAINING HEAT WOULD BE VERY IMPORTANT" "IN THAT KIND OF CLIMATIC SITUATION," "ICE AGE SITUATION. -(narrator) CLEARLY, NEANDERTHALS HAD A UNIQUE LOOK," "BUT MODERN HUMANS CAN DIFFER DRASTICALLY" "IN APPEARANCE, EVEN WITHIN OUR OWN SPECIES," "SO THE ONLY WAY TO REALLY SETTLE THE SPECIES QUESTION IS TO LOOK AT THE DNA." "AT GERMANY'S MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE" "FOR EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY, SCIENTISTS HAVE SUCCEEDED IN RECOVERING" "THE FIRST VIABLE SAMPLE OF NEANDERTHAL DNA" "FROM A 38.000-YEAR-OLD BONE FRAGMENT." "THEY ARE USING IT TO RECONSTRUCT" "THE ENTIRE NEANDERTHAL GENOME, A GENETIC ROAD MAP THAT WILL REVEAL NEW DETAILS" "ABOUT HOW THEIR BODIES COMPARE WITH OURS ON A MOLECULAR LEVEL." "(Egholm) THE GENOME IS THE BLUEPRINT" "FOR A LIVING ORGANISM." "IT HAS ENCODED ALL THE BLUEPRINTS FOR OUR EYES," "EARS, NOSE, OR ANY BODY PART, AND HOW IT ALL IS SUPPOSED WORK TOGETHER." "BY STUDYING THE NEANDERTHAL GENOME," "WE HOPE TO FIND OUT WHERE THE DIFFERENCES ARE" "AND THEN IDENTIFY WHAT MAKES US HUMAN." "(narrator) THE BIGGEST HURDLE IN DECODING NEANDERTHAL DNA" "IS FINDING IT IN THE FIRST PLACE." "(Egholm) THE DNA IS HEAVILY DEGRADED," "SO INSTEAD OF BEING VERY LONG STRINGS OF LETTERS, THEY ARE TINY PIECES." "AND THEN ON TOP OF THAT," "DNA FROM BACTERIA AND FUNGUS HAVE ACTUALLY INVADED THE BONE" "AND CONTAMINATED THE SAMPLES, SO WE HAVE TO SIFT" "THROUGH ALL OF THAT AND THEN, THAT WAY, PULL OUT THE NEANDERTHAL DNA." "(narrator) NEANDERTHALS ARE THE FIRST EXTINCT PRIMATE SPECIES" "TO HAVE THEIR FULL GENOME MAPPED." "EARLIER STUDIES DEMONSTRATED THAT THE DNA" "OF ANOTHER HUMAN RELATIVE, THE CHIMPANZEE, IS 98.8% IDENTICAL TO OURS," "BUT THE NEANDERTHAL IS PROVING TO BE AN EVEN CLOSER MATCH," "ABOUT 99.9% IDENTICAL TO US." "(Paabo) NEANDERTHALS ARE OUR CLOSEST RELATIVES" "OF ALL THE ORGANISMS THAT EXIST OR HAVE EXISTED ON THE PLANET." "IF YOU COMPARE TWO HUMANS, IF YOU COMPARE YOU AND ME," "WE HAVE ABOUT 0.1% DIFFERENCE, ABOUT 1 IN 1.000." "AND THE NEANDERTHAL IS NOT MUCH MORE THAN THAT," "PERHAPS 2 OR 1 1/2 DIFFERENCE IN 1.000." "(narrator) AS CLOSELY RELATED AS WE MAY BE," "THERE ARE ENOUGH GENETIC DIFFERENCES TO SUGGEST" "THAT WE SPLIT SOMEWHERE ALONG THE EVOLUTIONARY TIMELINE," "AND DNA IS PROVIDING NEW CLUES AS TO WHEN THAT SPLIT OCCURRED." "(Paabo) WHAT THE STUDY OF DNA SEQUENCE HAS ALSO ALLOWED US TO DO" "IS TO DATE THE TIME" "WHEN WE SEPARATED FROM NEANDERTHALS." "IF YOU'RE ASKING, "WHEN DID ANCESTRAL POPULATION INDIVIDUALS LIVE" "THAT WAS FOREFATHERS AND FOREMOTHERS OF BOTH NEANDERTHALS AND MODERN HUMANS?"" "THE ANSWER IS SOMEWHERE 300.000. 400.000 YEARS AGO." "(narrator) WITH GENETICS PROVIDING A MORE CONCRETE TIMELINE" "FOR THE SPLIT BETWEEN NEANDERTHALS AND CRO-MAGNONS," "ANTHROPOLOGISTS ARE CLOSER THAN EVER" "TO IDENTIFYING THEIR LAST COMMON ANCESTOR." "THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD PRIOR TO THE SPLIT IS PRETTY SKETCHY," "SO THAT ANCESTOR COULD BE ONE OF SEVERAL SPECIES." "BUT THE LEADING CANDIDATE MAY BE HOMO HEIDELBERGENSIS," "AKA "HEIDELBERG MAN", NAMED FOR THE TOWN IN GERMANY" "WHERE ITS FIRST FOSSIL WAS FOUND A CENTURY AGO." "(Holliday) HOMO HEIDELBERGENSIS IS EVERY BIT AS ROBUST" "AS NEANDERTHALS, POWERFULLY BUILT," "BUT A SMALLER BRAIN, AND IT IS ESSENTIALLY..." "THEY'RE USING THE SAME TOOLS THAT THE NEANDERTHALS ARE USING." "THERE'S VERY LITTLE DIFFERENCE IN THE HOMO HEIDELBERGENSIS TECHNOLOGY" "AND THE NEANDERTHAL TECHNOLOGY." "(narrator) IT'S LOGICAL TO TRACE THE NEANDERTHALS BACK TO HEIDELBERG MAN." "AFTER ALL, HIS FOSSIL WAS FOUND IN PRIME NEANDERTHAL TERRITORY." "MODERN HUMANS, ON THE OTHER HAND," "DIDN'T ENTER EUROPE UNTIL HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS" "OF YEARS AFTER THE LAST OF THE HEIDELBERGS WERE GONE," "SO LINKING OUR LINEAGE TO THEM ISN'T SO CUT-AND-DRY." "BUT IT TURNS OUT, HEIDELBERG MAN HAD AN AFRICAN BROTHER" "WHO LIVED DURING THE SAME TIME PERIOD," "SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 200.000 AND 600.000 YEARS AGO." "IT IS HOMO RHODESIENSIS, RHODESIAN MAN." "THE SIZE OF THEIR BRAIN, SO TO SPEAK, IS VERY SIMILAR." "THEIR FACIAL MORPHOLOGY IS VERY SIMILAR." "THIS HAS LED MANY PEOPLE TO CONSIDER THEM A SINGLE SPECIES." "(narrator) IF HEIDELBERG MAN AND RHODESIAN MAN" "ARE INDEED A SINGLE SPECIES, IT IS HIGHLY LIKELY" "THAT SOME MIGRATED FROM AFRICA TO EUROPE" "AND EVOLVED INTO NEANDERTHALS WHILE OTHERS STAYED BEHIND" "AND EVENTUALLY BECAME HOMO SAPIENS." "IT WOULD BE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS BEFORE THESE TWO GROUPS OF HUMANS" "WOULD CROSS PATHS AGAIN..." "IN ICE AGE EUROPE." "(Shea) ONE OF THE BIG QUESTIONS IN HUMAN ORIGINS RESEARCH IS," "WHY DID IT TAKE MODERN HUMANS SO LONG TO GET TO EUROPE?" "AFTER ALL, THEY EVOLVED IN AFRICA" "HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS EARLIER." "WELL, THINK ABOUT IT." "THERE'S ALREADY SOMEBODY LIVING THERE, THE NEANDERTHALS." "TO CONQUER EUROPE, CRO-MAGNONS HAVE TO SOMEHOW FIND A WAY" "TO PUSH THE NEANDERTHALS OUT OF THE PICTURE." "(narrator) FOR MODERN HUMANS TO SUCCESSFULLY INVADE EUROPE," "THEY NEEDED A COMPETITIVE EDGE," "BUT THAT EDGE WAS A LONG TIME COMING." "ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS INDICATE THAT INITIALLY" "OUR SPECIES WAS NO MORE SOPHISTICATED" "THAN NEANDERTHALS." "(Holliday) EARLY MODERN HUMANS APPEAR 190.000 YEARS AGO, ROUGHLY," "IN AFRICA, AND THEY'RE USING THE SAME TOOLS" "THERE IN AFRICA 190.000 YEARS AGO THAT THEY WERE USING 100,0000, 80.000 YEARS AGO," "AND THOSE ARE THE SAME TOOLS THAT THE NEANDERTHALS" "ARE USING IN EUROPE AT THE SAME TIME." "(narrator) WITHIN A NETWORK OF ANCIENT CAVES IN ISRAEL," "BONES AND TOOLS FROM BOTH SETS OF HUMANS HAVE BEEN UNCOVERED." "RADIOCARBON DATING TESTS ON THE ARTIFACTS REVEAL" "THAT THE TWO SPECIES MAY HAVE BRIEFLY CROSSED PATHS THERE 90.000 YEARS AGO," "LONG BEFORE THE CRO-MAGNONS ENTERED EUROPE." "BUT IN THIS EARLIER AGE," "BEFORE OUR SPECIES HAD DEVELOPED ANY TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANTAGE," "IT SEEMS IT WAS THE NEANDERTHALS WHO PREVAILED." "IF YOU WENT DOWN TO THE DEEPEST LEVELS," "YOU FOUND SIGNS OF MODERN HUMANS HAVING LIVED IN THESE SITES," "AND THEN, SOME THOUSANDS OF YEARS LATER," "YOU FOUND EVIDENCE OF NEANDERTHALS HAVING OCCUPIED THOSE SAME CAVES." "SO WHAT HAPPENED?" "WELL, IT'S HARD TO KNOW FOR SURE." "IT MAY WELL BE THAT NEANDERTHALS DROVE THEM OUT." "(narrator) AFTER THEIR CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH THE NEANDERTHALS" "IN THE MIDDLE EAST, THERE'S NO EVIDENCE" "OF MODERN HUMANS LEAVING AFRICA FOR ANOTHER 45.000 YEARS." "BUT WHEN THEY FINALLY DID VENTURE OUT AGAIN," "THEY WERE ARMED WITH A NEW WEAPON MORE POWERFUL THAN ANY SEEN BEFORE OR SINCE," "A FULLY DEVELOPED HUMAN MIND." "[men grunting]" "(narrator) IN OUR STORY, IT HAS BEEN SIX MONTHS" "SINCE THESE CRO-MAGNONS AMBUSHED A NEIGHBORING NEANDERTHAL CAVE," "INTENT ON PILLAGING AND INTIMIDATING" "THEIR TERRITORIAL RIVALS." "IN THE INTERIM, ANOTHER ICE AGE WINTER HAS GRIPPED EUROPE." "TEMPERATURES ARE DROPPING AS FAR AS 25 BELOW 0 AT NIGHT," "AND A FRESH COAT OF SNOW BLANKETS MUCH OF THE CONTINENT." "(Bailey) THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN A LOT OF CHALLENGES" "TO LIVING DURING A GLACIAL CLIMATE." "THE NUMBER ONE CHALLENGE WOULD BE STAYING WARM" "AND NOT GETTING FROSTBITE, AND THEN ANOTHER CHALLENGE," "OF COURSE, WOULD BE FINDING FOOD." "(narrator) THE CRO-MAGNONS HAVE RISEN TO THESE CHALLENGES." "WHILE THE SURVIVING NEANDERTHALS STRUGGLE THROUGH FOOD SHORTAGES" "AND FROSTBITE SOMEWHERE IN A NEARBY FOREST," "THESE MODERN HUMAN HUNTERS ARE WELL FED AND WARM," "AND THEY HAVE THEIR BRAINS TO THANK FOR THAT." "(Rennie) AND YOU WOULD THINK THAT SINCE THE CRO-MAGNONS" "WEREN'T REALLY BUILT TO SURVIVE IN THE COLD," "THEY WOULD BE AT A REAL DISADVANTAGE WHEN THEY WERE COMPETING" "WITH THE NEANDERTHALS WHO WERE." "AND YET, THE CRO-MAGNONS SURVIVED FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS" "AFTER THE NEANDERTHALS WERE ALL GONE," "DURING THE WORST PARTS OF THE NEXT ICE AGE." "HOW DID THEY DO IT?" "WELL, THEY HAD SUPERIOR TECHNOLOGY." "THEY WERE MUCH, MUCH BETTER AT BEING ABLE" "TO CONSTRUCT SHELTERS USING ANIMAL HIDES" "THAT WERE VERY, VERY TIGHT, TIGHTLY WOVEN UP AGAINST THE COLD." "THEY WERE VERY, VERY GOOD AT CREATING WARMER CLOTHING" "FOR THEMSELVES AND BEING ABLE," "USING THEIR SUPERIOR HUNTING TECHNOLOGY, TO CONTINUE TO GET MORE GAME," "EVEN WHEN GAME MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN VERY PLENTIFUL." "SO, IN FACT, ALL OF THOSE DIFFERENT SORTS OF CULTURAL" "AND TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANTAGES THAT THE CRO-MAGNONS HAD" "HELPED THEM SURVIVE LONG AFTER THE NEANDERTHALS HAD PERISHED." "[men speaking indistinctly]" "(narrator) ANOTHER SECRET TO THE TRIBE'S SUCCESS" "IS THIS SMALL PIECE OF BONE WITH A SERIES OF PITTED HOLES DUG INTO IT." "AN INSTRUMENT LIKE THIS, DATING TO 32.000 YEARS AGO," "WAS FOUND IN FRANCE IN THE 20TH CENTURY." "IT HAS BEEN INTERPRETED AS A LUNAR CALENDAR" "THAT TRACKS THE MOVEMENT OF REINDEER HERDS RELATIVE" "TO THE POSITION OF THE MOON." "THIS HUNTER HAS FIGURED OUT THAT REINDEER MIGRATIONS FOLLOW A PATTERN." "HE HAS LINKED THAT PATTERN TO THE PATH OF THE MOON" "AND RECORDED IT IN A SERIES OF MARKINGS." "WITH THIS INFORMATION ALWAYS AT HIS FINGERTIPS," "HE HAS CONSISTENTLY BEEN ABLE TO PREDICT" "WHERE HIS CLAN'S NEXT MEAL CAN BE FOUND." "IT'S A SKILL THAT HAS MADE HIM VERY POPULAR AMONG HIS PEERS." "BUT REALLY, IT'S SOMETHING THAT ANY OF THEM" "ARE CAPABLE OF MASTERING," "BECAUSE THEY HAVE ALL INHERITED THE ENGINE THAT DRIVES THIS SKILL:" "THE MODERN HUMAN MIND." "(Rennie) THE REALLY INTERESTING THING ABOUT MODERN HUMANS" "IS THAT WE DIDN'T START OUT THAT SMART." "FOR THE FIRST TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS" "THAT ANATOMICALLY MODERN HUMANS WERE AROUND," "THEY BASICALLY LIVED AT EXACTLY THE SAME LEVEL" "THAT THE NEANDERTHALS DID." "THEY DIDN'T SHOW ANY SIGNS OF MORE SOPHISTICATED CULTURE." "THEY DIDN'T SHOW ANY SIGNS OF BETTER TOOLS OR ANYTHING ELSE." "AND THEN SUDDENLY, SOMETHING HAPPENED, AND MODERN HUMANS EXHIBITED" "THIS GREAT LEAP FORWARD IN THE KIND OF CULTURE" "THEY WERE MANIFESTING." "IT'S AS THOUGH THEY HAD SUDDENLY GOTTEN SMARTER." "(narrator) ABOUT 45.000 YEARS AGO, THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD" "OF MODERN MAN GETS A LOT MORE INTERESTING." "TOOLS AND WEAPONS ARE SHARPER AND MORE DURABLE." "CREATIVE EXPRESSIONS START TO SURFACE IN THE FORM OF CAVE PAINTINGS, JEWELRY," "AND EVEN SCULPTURES THAT TESTIFY TO AN UNPRECEDENTED LEVEL" "OF CULTURE AND SOPHISTICATION." "(Dibble) DOES IT LOOK LIKE A DRAMATIC CHANGE?" "IT IS VERY DRAMATIC." "WE'RE SEEING INNOVATIONS IN TECHNOLOGY," "THE ADVENT OF THINGS LIKE BONE TOOLS" "THAT ARE SHAPED AND SHAVED." "YOU SEE THINGS THAT CAN ONLY BE INTERPRETED AS ART," "WHICH IS TOTALLY UNKNOWN IN NEANDERTHAL TIMES." "(narrator) IT'S AS THOUGH A SUDDEN SPARK IGNITED MANKIND'S MENTAL MOTHERBOARD" "MORE THAN 100.000 YEARS AFTER OUR SPECIES CAME INTO BEING." "HOW IT HAPPENED AND WHY IS STILL A MYSTERY." "(Rennie) MAYBE SOMETHING HAPPENED TO US GENETICALLY," "AND WE SUDDENLY HAD SOME INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY" "THAT WE DIDN'T HAVE BEFORE, AN ABILITY FOR LANGUAGE OR AN ABILITY" "FOR ABSTRACT REASONING OF SOME SORT." "IT'S POSSIBLE THAT THE INNOVATION WAS A CULTURAL ONE." "IT'S POSSIBLE THAT IN THE SAME WAY" "THAT THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION DRAMATICALLY CHANGED" "THE WAY THAT WE LIVE TODAY, THE MODERN HUMANS" "HAD SOMETHING SIMILAR THAT HAPPENED," "THAT SUDDENLY, SOME SORT OF DISCOVERY WAS MADE," "AND IT TOOK ROOT IN THEIR CULTURE," "AND THAT ADVANCED THEM." "(Tattersall) THE GREAT LEAP THAT'S EXEMPLIFIED" "BY THE CRO-MAGNONS WAS ACHIEVED BY A BRAIN" "THAT WAS ALREADY IN PLACE." "I THINK WE HAD A SYMBOL-READY BRAIN" "FOR A LONG TIME BEFORE WE STARTED TO USE IT." "BUT THAT BEHAVIORAL POTENTIAL LAY FALLOW" "FOR MANY THOUSANDS OF YEARS UNTIL IT WAS RELEASED" "BY SOME KIND OF A CULTURAL STIMULUS," "AND MY GUESS WOULD BE THAT THAT CULTURAL STIMULUS" "WAS PROBABLY THE INVENTION OF LANGUAGE." "[men speaking native language]" "(Rennie) LANGUAGE, AFTER ALL, SUDDENLY MAKES SO MUCH POSSIBLE." "YOU CAN ORGANIZE THE ACTIVITIES" "OF ALL THE REST OF THE PEOPLE IN YOUR TRIBE." "YOU CAN SUDDENLY CONVEY INFORMATION MORE EFFICIENTLY" "FROM ONE PERSON TO THE NEXT." "THE VALUE OF SUPERIOR LANGUAGE SKILLS" "AND A BETTER ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE" "TO THE CRO-MAGNONS PROBABLY CAN'T BE OVERESTIMATED." "(narrator) THE ONLY INDISPUTABLE PROOF OF LANGUAGE IS A WRITTEN RECORD," "AND THAT WOULDN'T EXIST UNTIL ABOUT 3.000 B.C.," "BUT THERE IS CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE THAT THESE CRO-MAGNONS" "DID COMMUNICATE VERBALLY SOME 25.000 YEARS EARLIER." "FOR EXAMPLE, IT APPEARS THEY HAD AN ORGANIZED TRADE SYSTEM." "[speaking indistinctly]" "(Harvati) THERE IS EVIDENCE OF LONG-DISTANCE TRANSFER OF MATERIALS," "SUCH AS RAW MATERIALS FOR MAKING SPECIAL TOOLS," "FOR INSTANCE, WHICH HAPPENS MUCH MORE FREQUENTLY WITH EARLY MODERN HUMANS" "THAN WITH PREVIOUS GROUPS, SUCH AS NEANDERTHALS." "(narrator) AMBER DATING FROM THIS TIME PERIOD" "AND TRACED TO THE BALTIC REGION HAS BEEN FOUND IN SOUTHERN EUROPE," "AND ANCIENT SEASHELLS FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN SHOW UP" "IN CRO-MAGNON DIG SITES AS FAR NORTH AS UKRAINE." "COORDINATING SUCH AN ORGANIZED EXCHANGE" "OF RESOURCES WOULD LIKELY HAVE REQUIRED" "ADVANCED COMMUNICATION SKILLS." "(Harvati) EVERYBODY WOULD ARGUE THAT THEY HAD COMPLETE LANGUAGE," "MODERN HUMAN COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS, BASED ON ALL OF THESE BEHAVIORS." "I THINK IT JUST FITS WITH THE WHOLE PICTURE" "OF EARLY MODERN HUMANS AS BEING VERY CULTURALLY SOPHISTICATED," "HAVING VERY COMPLEX SOCIAL NETWORKS," "FULLY MODERN CULTURE AND BEHAVIOR." "(narrator) WHILE THE CRO-MAGNONS FIND THEMSELVES" "ON THE TECHNOLOGICAL FAST TRACK, THEIR NEANDERTHAL RIVALS ARE GETTING BY" "THE WAY THEY HAVE FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS." "IT IS WIDELY BELIEVED AMONG ANTHROPOLOGISTS" "THAT NEANDERTHALS HAD A COMPLEX COMMUNICATION SYSTEM," "BUT HOW THEY COMMUNICATED IS STILL OPEN TO DEBATE." "(Dibble) THEY HAD A VERY SOCIAL..." "AS WE ARE," "INDIVIDUALS, LIVED IN GROUPS;" "THEY GOT ALONG." "THEY TOOK CARE OF THEIR ELDERLY OR THEIR INJURED." "ALL OF THIS IMPLIES A CERTAIN LEVEL" "OF SOCIAL DEPENDENCE AND COMMUNICATION," "BUT EXACTLY WHAT FORM THAT WAS..." "WOULD YOU CALL IT A TRUE LANGUAGE?" "IT'S HARD TO SAY." "(narrator) FOR NEW CLUES ABOUT NEANDERTHAL COMMUNICATION," "SCIENTISTS ARE LOOKING TO THE ONGOING DNA RESEARCH." "IT NOW APPEARS NEANDERTHALS SHARE A GENE WITH MODERN HUMANS" "CALLED FOXP2, WHICH IS AN ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT" "IN THE ABILITY TO SPEAK." "MODERN HUMANS BORN WITH A DEFECT IN THIS GENE" "ARE INCAPABLE OF NORMAL CONVERSATION." "(Paabo) IF ONE COPY OF IT IS DAMAGED," "KNOCKED OUT IN A HUMAN, WE HAVE A SEVERE LANGUAGE AND SPEECH PROBLEM," "SO THIS GENE IS IN SOME WAY INVOLVED" "IN SPEECH OR LANGUAGE." "[speaking indistinctly]" "(narrator) BEFORE IT TURNED UP IN THE NEANDERTHAL GENOME STUDY," "THE HUMAN FORM OF FOXP2 HAD NOT BEEN FOUND" "IN ANY OTHER SPECIES." "BUT NOW WE'VE GOT COMPANY." "(Paabo) THEY HAVE AN IDENTICAL FOXP2 GENE TO US," "SO FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF THIS GENE," "THERE IS NO REASON TO ASSUME THAT THEY COULD NOT HAVE HAD" "FULLY ARTICULATE LANGUAGE AS WE DO." "(narrator) BUT WHILE THIS NEW GENETIC BREAKTHROUGH STRONGLY SUGGESTS" "THAT NEANDERTHALS WERE CAPABLE OF SPEAKING," "IT CAN'T TELL US WHETHER THEY ACTUALLY SPOKE" "OR WHAT THEY MIGHT HAVE SOUNDED LIKE." "FOR FURTHER CLUES, SCIENTISTS ARE TAKING" "A FRESH LOOK AT THE FOSSIL RECORD." "DR. JEFFREY LAITMAN IS AN ANATOMIST" "AT THE MOUNT SINAI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE IN NEW YORK CITY." "HE'S AN EXPERT ON VOCAL CHORDS AND HOW THEY HAVE EVOLVED" "OVER THE COURSE OF HUMAN HISTORY." "BY COMPARING THE THROAT BONES OF NEANDERTHALS AND CRO-MAGNONS," "LAITMAN HAS DRAWN SOME REVEALING CONCLUSIONS" "ABOUT NEANDERTHAL SPEECH." "(Laitman) A KEY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NEANDERTHALS AND LIVING HUMANS" "MAY BE IN THE LOCATION OF THE LARYNX, OR IN MORE COMMON TERMS, THE VOICE BOX." "IF YOU LOOK AT AN ADULT MODERN HUMAN, OUR LARYNX," "IT'S ALL THE WAY DOWN IN THE THROAT," "AND THAT LOW POSITION ENABLES US TO PRODUCE A NUMBER" "OF IMPORTANT SOUNDS, PARTICULARLY VOWELS," "VERY QUICKLY, AND BY RECONSTRUCTING IT," "WE BELIEVE THE NEANDERTHAL LARYNX WOULD BE UP SOMEWHAT HIGHER IN THE THROAT" "THAN THAT FOUND IN YOU AND ME," "BUT THEY WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO MAKE CERTAIN VOWEL SOUNDS," "SUCH AS THE SOUNDS OF THE WORD "BOOT" IN ENGLISH," ""OOH" OR "AH" IN "FATHER."" "SO AS FAR AS SPEECH IS CONCERNED," "I DON'T THINK NEANDERTHALS HAD THE SAME ABILITIES" "THAT LIVING HUMANS HAVE." "(narrator) PIECE BY PIECE, SCIENCE IS REWRITING PREHISTORY" "AND STRENGTHENING THE PARAMETERS" "THAT GUIDE OUR SPECULATION ABOUT WHAT MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED" "WHEN NEANDERTHALS AND CRO-MAGNONS CROSSED PATHS." "THE MEMBERS OF THIS NEANDERTHAL CLAN" "ARE ON THE MOVE AGAIN, LOOKING TO PUT SOME DISTANCE" "BETWEEN THEMSELVES AND THEIR CRO-MAGNON ADVERSARIES." "THEY ARE HUNGRY, PALE, AND THEIR ELDEST MEMBER," "AN AGING MATRIARCH, IS SICK WITH A STRANGE ILLNESS." "THE LEADER KNOWS THAT IF HE DOESN'T LEAD HIS HUNTERS" "TO ANOTHER KILL SOON, THE CLAN WILL HAVE TO FIND" "ANOTHER SOURCE OF MEAT." "AND IN THE ABSENCE OF ANIMAL PREY," "THAT CAN ONLY MEAN ONE THING." "(narrator) ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS CONFIRM THAT TWO DISTINCT SETS OF HUMANS" "SHARED THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE FOR AT LEAST 5.000 YEARS," "BUT SO FAR, THE ARTIFACTS HAVEN'T REVEALED WHAT HAPPENED" "WHEN THE NEANDERTHALS AND CRO-MAGNONS CROSSED PATHS." "DID THE TWO GROUPS INTERBREED?" "DID THEY EXCHANGE IDEAS?" "AND WAS IT OUR SPECIES, THE CRO-MAGNONS," "WHO DROVE THE NEANDERTHALS TO EXTINCTION" "AROUND 30.000 YEARS AGO?" "RECENT SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS IN THE FIELD AND THE LAB HAS YIELDED NEW INFORMATION" "THAT ALLOWS US TO IMAGINE WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE" "IN THOSE FINAL DAYS OF COEXISTENCE." "[men grunting]" "IT IS THE MIDDLE OF WINTER, AND THE NEANDERTHAL CLAN" "IS IN DIRE STRAITS." "THEY HAVE LEFT THEIR HUNTING GROUNDS" "FOR HIGHER GROUND IN AN EFFORT TO STEER CLEAR" "OF THEIR CRO-MAGNON COMPETITORS," "BUT FOOD IS SCARCE AT THIS ELEVATION." "NOW SOME MEMBERS OF THE CLAN ARE SICK," "AND ALL OF THEM ARE STARVING." "[woman groaning]" "IF THESE NEANDERTHALS ARE GOING TO FIND THEIR FOOTING AGAIN," "THERE'S ONE THING THEY WILL NEED A LOT OF AND FAST:" "MEAT." "(Rennie) THEY WERE PROBABLY THE MOST CARNIVOROUS HUMANS" "THAT EVER LIVED IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD." "UNLIKE THEIR PREDECESSORS OR LIKE WE MODERN HUMANS," "WHO TEND TO BE GENERALISTS, OMNIVORES..." "WE EAT MEAT, BUT WE ALSO EAT DIFFERENT SORTS OF PLANTS..." "THE NEANDERTHALS ALMOST CERTAINLY DEPENDED" "ON A DIET THAT WAS ALMOST PURELY MEAT JUST TO GET BY." "(narrator) TODAY MEAT ACCOUNTS FOR ONLY ABOUT 12%" "OF THE MODERN HUMAN DIET," "BUT IT MADE UP 85% OF THE NEANDERTHAL DIET." "WE KNOW THIS BECAUSE OF A TECHNOLOGY" "CALLED STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS," "WHICH ENABLES SCIENTISTS TO DETERMINE" "WHAT ANCIENT PEOPLE WERE EATING BY EVALUATING" "THE LEVELS OF CARBON AND NITROGEN IN THEIR BONE TISSUE." "IN ORDER TO SURVIVE, THE NEANDERTHALS NEED TO CONSUME" "AROUND 5.000 CALORIES PER DAY," "TWICE THAT OF MODERN ADULT MALES." "(Harvati) THIS IS EXTREMELY HIGH." "IT IMPLIES THAT THEY HAD A GREAT NEED FOR FOOD," "BUT IT MAY HAVE BEEN PART OF THEIR ADAPTATION" "TO LIVE IN VERY COLD ENVIRONMENTS." "HAVING SUCH HIGH METABOLIC RATES" "MAY HAVE HELPED THEM TREMENDOUSLY IN KEEPING WARM." "(narrator) AFTER ALMOST A WEEK OF WANDERING," "WE CAN IMAGINE OUR STARVING NEANDERTHALS" "BEING RELIEVED TO COME ACROSS A LARGE CAVE" "OFFERING AMPLE SHELTER AND PROTECTION." "[men speaking indistinctly]" "IT IS A RARE AND SHORT-LIVED STROKE OF LUCK." "SUDDENLY, THE SIGHT OF AN APPROACHING BAND OF CRO-MAGNON HUNTERS" "SENDS THE NEANDERTHAL CLAN SCURRYING FOR COVER." "THEY REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THEY RESISTED THE LAST AMBUSH," "AND THIS TIME, THEY'RE NOT TAKING ANY CHANCES." "[grunts loudly]" "(narrator) WITH THEIR NUMBERS ALREADY DWINDLING," "THE LOSS OF EVEN ONE MORE LIFE COULD BE CATASTROPHIC." "(Shea) ARMED CONFLICT BETWEEN SMALL GROUPS OF PEOPLE" "ENTAILS HIGH CASUALTY RATES." "IF YOU LOSE ONE PERSON OUT OF A GROUP OF FIVE, THAT'S A 20% CASUALTY RATE." "THAT'S HIGHER THAN CASUALTY RATES OF THE SOVIET UNION DURING WORLD WAR II." "(narrator) THE NEANDERTHALS WATCH FROM A DARK CORNER" "AS FIVE CRO-MAGNON HUNTERS MAKE THEMSELVES AT HOME" "AT THE ENTRANCE TO THEIR CAVE." "THE VISITORS SOON MAKE A STARTLING DISCOVERY," "ONE THAT UNDERSCORES THIS NEANDERTHAL CLAN'S" "INCREASINGLY DESPERATE CIRCUMSTANCES." "AMIDST THE ASHES OF A DYING FIRE" "IS THE CHARRED SKULL OF THE CLAN'S MATRIARCH," "WHO HAD BEEN SICK WITH A STRANGE DISEASE." "(Rennie) WOULD THEY HAVE TURNED ON ONE ANOTHER?" "WOULD THEY HAVE EATEN THEIR OWN DEAD?" "THERE MAY BE SOMETHING TO IT." "THE FACT IS THAT EVEN IN MODERN HUMAN CULTURES," "WE KNOW THAT IN TIMES OF DESPERATION," "THERE ARE THOSE CASES OF PEOPLE" "HAVING ACTUALLY RESORTED TO CANNIBALISM TO SURVIVE." "(narrator) THERE IS ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE" "THAT NEANDERTHALS WERE CANNIBALS," "AT LEAST OCCASIONALLY." "AT MORE THAN ONE CAVE SITE IN EUROPE," "BONES OF THEIRS HAVE BEEN FOUND BEARING CUT MARKS" "SIMILAR TO WHAT YOU MIGHT FIND ON THE BONES OF A BUTCHERED ANIMAL." "(Holliday) IT'S VERY HARD TO ARGUE THAT IT WASN'T CANNIBALISM" "WHEN THE BONES HAVE BEEN TREATED IN THE EXACT SAME WAY" "AS BONES THAT EVERYONE WOULD SAY," ""WELL THIS IS OBVIOUSLY FOOD." WHEN YOU FIND CUT UP DEER BONES AT A SITE" "THAT ARE CHARRED AND THEY'RE FOUND IN THE SAME EXACT PLACE, BASHED THE SAME WAY" "TO ACCESS THE MARROW ON THE INSIDE," "WITH THE SAME KIND OF CUT MARKS, THEN THAT SUGGESTS CANNIBALISM." "[fire crackling]" "(narrator) THE FOSSILS CAN TELL US NEANDERTHALS ATE THEIR OWN DEAD," "BUT THEY HAVEN'T YET TOLD US THE CIRCUMSTANCES" "THAT MOTIVATED THEM TO DO IT." "WAS THE NEANDERTHAL BRAND OF CANNIBALISM" "A WIDELY PRACTICED RITUAL SACRIFICE" "OR THE RARE ACT OF A STARVING FEW?" "(Shea) IT'S PROBABLY A SURVIVAL KIND OF CANNIBALISM," "WHERE PEOPLE ARE STUCK IN A COLD ENVIRONMENT" "AND THE BODIES OF DECEASED HUMANS" "IS THE ONLY SOURCE OF FATS OR PROTEIN." "IF YOU THINK ABOUT WHERE CANNIBALISM HAS OCCURRED" "AMONG RECENT HUMANS TODAY, IT'S IN SURVIVAL SITUATIONS." "THINK DONNER PARTY." "THIS KIND OF A SITUATION OF A SMALL GROUP" "LIVING IN AN COLD ENVIRONMENT RUNNING OUT OF FOOD" "IS PROBABLY SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED ON A REGULAR BASIS AMONG NEANDERTHALS." "[grunting]" "(narrator) FOR THIS CLAN," "SURVIVAL IS MORE OF A STRUGGLE NOW THAN IT HAS EVER BEEN," "AND THE REASON WHY IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM." "IN THE MIDDLE OF AN ICE AGE WINTER," "THE CRO-MAGNONS LOOK STRONG AND ENERGETIC." "THEY HAVE WARMER CLOTHING." "THEY ARE IN GOOD SPIRITS." "IN A NUTSHELL, THEY ARE WINNING." "(Bailey) THEY WERE SUBSISTING ON THINGS LIKE MEAT AS WELL" "BUT ALSO INCORPORATING FISH IN THEIR DIET, IT SEEMS," "AND JUST GENERALLY HAD A BROADER DIET." "SO IF YOU IMAGINE NEANDERTHALS AND MODERN HUMANS" "OCCUPYING THE SAME LANDSCAPE," "THEY ARE GOING TO BE COMPETING FOR THE SAME FOOD." "IF ALL YOU CAN EAT IS MEAT" "AND NOW YOU HAVE SOMEBODY ELSE ON THE LANDSCAPE" "THAT'S COMPETING WITH YOU FOR THAT MEAT," "YOU CAN IMAGINE THAT YOU MIGHT BE AT A DISADVANTAGE," "WHEREAS THE MODERN HUMANS HAD MORE FALLBACK FOODS" "THEY COULD..." "THEY RELIED ON." "[grunting]" "(narrator) SOME OF OUR NEANDERTHALS WANT TO SEEK REVENGE" "FOR THE AMBUSH ON THEIR CAVE MONTHS EARLIER," "BUT THEIR LEADER DOESN'T WANT TO ATTACK." "HE WANTS TO OBSERVE." "HE UNDERSTANDS THAT LEARNING FROM THESE OTHER HUMANS" "MAY BE WISER THAN TRYING TO ELIMINATE THEM." "AS THE FIVE HUNTERS HEAD ON THEIR WAY," "THE NEANDERTHAL LEADER INSTRUCTS TWO BROTHERS," "HIS MOST ATHLETIC AND CAPABLE YOUNG MEN," "TO FOLLOW THEM AT A DISTANCE TO OBSERVE THEIR HABITS AND HUNTING GROUNDS" "AND TO FIND THEIR SISTERS, WHO HAVE BEEN MISSING" "SINCE THEY WERE ABDUCTED BY CRO-MAGNONS SIX MONTHS AGO." "IT WILL BE A DANGEROUS MISSION." "IF THE NEANDERTHALS ARE SEEN, THEY COULD BE KILLED." "BUT IN THESE DESPERATE TIMES, IT IS A NECESSARY RISK." "AFTER THREE DAYS AND SEVERAL MILES," "THE NEANDERTHAL SPIES REMAIN UNDETECTED" "AND HOT ON THE TRAIL OF THE CRO-MAGNONS." "THE PREVIOUS AFTERNOON, THEY HAD WATCHED AS THE HUNTERS SKILLFULLY SLAUGHTERED" "A PAIR OF WILD HORSES WITH THROWING WEAPONS." "JUST LIKE THE OTHER CRO-MAGNONS" "HAD DONE MONTHS EARLIER WITH REINDEER." "THE NEANDERTHALS WAITED UNTIL THE CRO-MAGNONS" "HAD TAKEN ALL THEY COULD." "THEN THEY CREPT OVER TO THE CARCASSES" "AND SCAVENGED WHAT WAS LEFT." "BUT NOW THEY HAVE DESCENDED TO A LOWER," "SLIGHTLY WARMER ELEVATION, WHERE THE CRO-MAGNON HUNTERS ARE DOING SOMETHING" "NEANDERTHALS HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO MASTER..." "PULLING FISH OUT OF THE WATER." "(Harvati) THE CRO-MAGNON PEOPLE ARE KNOWN TO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO FISH." "WE HAVE EVIDENCE FOR THAT FROM HARPOONS," "BONE HARPOONS THAT THEY MADE," "SO IT COULD HAVE BEEN ALSO VERY IMPORTANT IN THEIR SURVIVAL." "(narrator) TO CATCH THE FISH, THE CRO-MAGNONS RELEASED THEIR THIN," "LIGHTWEIGHT HARPOONS VERY SWIFTLY" "AND WITH GREAT PRECISION." "AWESTRUCK, THE NEANDERTHALS MOVE IN FOR A CLOSER LOOK... [breathing heavily]" "(narrator) BUT THEIR CURIOSITY BLOWS THEIR COVER." "HEY." "HEY." "[both grunting]" "(narrator) IF THE NEANDERTHALS ARE CAPTURED," "IT COULD MEAN THE END FOR THEM AND THEIR CLAN." "(narrator) 30.000 YEARS AGO IN ICE AGE EUROPE," "ONE HUMAN SPECIES PERISHED FOREVER" "WHILE ANOTHER, OUR OWN, PREVAILED." "IN OUR HYPOTHETICAL SCENARIO OF THOSE LAST DAYS OF COEXISTENCE," "THE NEANDERTHALS WHO WERE SENT TO SPY" "ON THEIR CRO-MAGNON NEIGHBORS ARE ON THE RUN." "BUT IN KNEE-HIGH SNOW," "THEIR PRINTS ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO MISS." "AND THE CRO-MAGNONS ARE HOT ON THEIR TRAIL." "MEANWHILE, SEVERAL MILES AWAY, THE NEANDERTHAL HUNTERS" "WHO STAYED BACK WITH THE CLAN ARE CLOSING IN" "ON A CATCH OF THEIR OWN." "THE WOOLLY RHINOCEROS IS ONE OF THE MOST MASSIVE" "AND DANGEROUS ANIMALS OF THE ICE AGE." "[rhinoceros growling]" "IT CAN BE EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE WHEN PROVOKED," "CERTAINLY NOT THE IDEAL PREY TO BE HUNTING AT CLOSE RANGE," "BUT THIS GROUP OF NEANDERTHAL HUNTERS," "WHOSE LAST MEAL WAS ONE OF THEIR OWN," "IS READY TO TAKE CHANCES." "[rhinoceros growling]" "NEANDERTHAL HUNTING WAS A VERY CLOSE-QUARTERS, HIGH-ENERGY AFFAIR." "THEY DIDN'T KILL ANIMALS FROM A DISTANCE." "RATHER, THEY APPROACHED THEM BY STEALTH AND THEN JUMPED THEM, AMBUSHED THEM." "[rhinoceros growling]" "(narrator) WHILE ONE OF THEM GRABS THE RHINO'S ATTENTION," "ANOTHER GRABS ONTO ITS HAIRY BODY AND HANGS ON." "[rhinoceros growling]" "NOW, WITH THE ANIMAL TOTALLY DISTRACTED AND OFF BALANCE," "THE LAST TWO HUNTERS GO IN FOR THE KILL." "ONE SPEAR TO THE THROAT," "ONE TO THE HEART." "BUT THE RHINO ISN'T THE ONLY CASUALTY." "(Rennie) IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A REAL MELEE," "AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A PRETTY BRUTAL SCENE," "WHICH IS WHY A LOT OF THE NEANDERTHALS GOT PRETTY INJURED IN THE PROCESS." "[man grunting]" "(narrator) THE KILL IS A HARD-FOUGHT AND MUCH-NEEDED TRIUMPH" "FOR THE NEANDERTHALS." "THE MEAT FROM THIS ONE WOOLLY RHINO" "WILL KEEP THE ENTIRE 11-MEMBER CLAN FED FOR AT LEAST A WEEK." "FOR THE MOMENT, AT LEAST, THEY CAN RELAX," "ALL, THAT IS, EXCEPT FOR ONE OF THEM." "THE DAREDEVIL HUNTER WHO CLUNG TO THE HAIR OF THE WOOLLY RHINO" "HAS BROKEN FOUR OF HIS RIBS." "(Harvati) THERE IS CERTAINLY EVIDENCE FOR VIOLENCE IN THE FOSSIL RECORD" "IN TERMS OF TRAUMA SUSTAINED, ESPECIALLY IN THE CRANIUM," "AND THIS HAS BEEN INTERPRETED AS A RESULT OF THE HUNTING TECHNIQUES." "PERHAPS CLOSE CONTACT" "WITH LARGE ANIMALS WILL DO THIS, RIGHT?" "WHEN THEY'RE KILLING THESE BIG, DANGEROUS ANIMALS," "THEY'RE REALLY UP CLOSE, AND THERE IS A HIGH RISK OF INJURY," "AND WE CAN TELL THIS BY FRACTURES ON THE NEANDERTHAL BONES." "THEY HAVE BROKEN FINGERS, BROKEN FOREARMS, FRACTURES TO THEIR COLLARBONE." "CRO-MAGNON HUNTING:" "IT APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN A SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT AFFAIR." "WHAT CRO-MAGNON HUNTERS WOULD DO IS," "THEY WOULD PROBABLY AMBUSH THE ANIMAL" "BUT HIT IT WITH A PROJECTILE WEAPON" "BEFORE IT EVEN KNEW IT WAS UNDER ATTACK." "THE CRO-MAGNONS DON'T HAVE TO GRAPPLE WITH IT" "TO QUITE THE SAME DEGREE THAT NEANDERTHALS DO," "AND AGAIN, WE CAN SEE THIS ON THEIR BONES:" "LESS COMMON FRACTURES OF THE ARMS," "LESS COMMON FRACTURES OF THE SCAPULA, OF THE RIB CAGE." "CRO-MAGNONS ARE ESSENTIALLY BUFFERING THEMSELVES," "INSULATING THEMSELVES FROM RISKS" "THAT NEANDERTHALS FACED ON A DAILY BASIS." "(narrator) FOR NEANDERTHAL HUNTERS, AN OCCASIONAL FRACTURE" "IS A SMALL PRICE TO PAY TO STAVE OFF STARVATION." "IN THE WILDS OF ICE AGE EUROPE, THEIR SURVIVAL" "DEPENDS ON STRENGTH." "(Shea) THEY HAD MASSIVE MUSCLES IN THEIR SHOULDERS AND THEIR ARMS." "THESE WOULD GIVE THEM A POWERFUL GRIP" "AND ALLOW THEM TO ESSENTIALLY KNOCK OVER ANIMAL," "TO IMMOBILIZE THE ANIMAL AS THEY'RE TRYING TO KILL IT." "SO FOR AMBUSH HUNTING, THEY'RE VERY WELL DESIGNED." "(narrator) AMBUSH HUNTING WORKS WELL IN AND AROUND THE FOREST," "WHERE IT IS EASIER TO GET CLOSE TO PREY WITHOUT BEING SEEN," "BUT IN WIDE OPEN SPACES," "THE NEANDERTHALS DON'T STAND A CHANCE," "BECAUSE UNLIKE THEIR MORE MODERN ADVERSARIES," "THEY WEREN'T BORN TO RUN." "(Rennie) IT'S A LITTLE-APPRECIATED FACT" "THAT WE MODERN HUMANS ARE ACTUALLY AMONG" "THE BEST LONG-DISTANCE RUNNERS IN THE ENTIRE ANIMAL KINGDOM." "AND IF YOU LOOK AT MODERN HUMANS," "BECAUSE WE HAVE MUCH LONGER LEGS," "BECAUSE WE HAVE A PELVIS THAT HELPS US DISTRIBUTE" "THE WEIGHT OF ONE STEP" "THAT BOUNCES OFF INTO ANOTHER STEP," "WE CAN ACTUALLY MANAGE TO RUN EXTREMELY WELL." "IT'S WHY WE CAN RUN MARATHONS;" "MOST ANIMALS CANNOT." "(narrator) IN COMPARISON TO MODERN HUMANS, NEANDERTHALS HAVE SHORT LIMBS" "AND A WIDE PELVIS, WHICH RESTRICTS THE SPEED" "AND DISTANCE THAT THEY CAN RUN IN PURSUIT OF PREY." "(Harvati) IF YOU HAVE A WIDE CHEST, YOU SHOULD PROBABLY HAVE" "A WIDE PELVIS AS WELL, SO YOUR WHOLE BODY GOES" "AS A PACKAGE, SO TO SPEAK." "SO IF YOU CONSIDER THAT THE SHAPE OF THE CHEST" "HAS TO DO SOMETHING WITH COLD ADAPTATION," "THEN SHAPE OF THE PELVIS ALSO IS RELATED TO THAT." "(narrator) BECAUSE OF THEIR SHORTER, WIDER BODY SHAPES," "RUNNING REQUIRES NEANDERTHALS TO EXPEND UP TO 30% MORE ENERGY" "THAN THEIR CRO-MAGNON COUNTERPARTS." "(Rennie) THE CRO-MAGNONS COULD PRETTY MUCH LITERALLY" "HAVE RUN RINGS AROUND THE NEANDERTHALS." "IF IT CAME DOWN TO AN ACTUAL CONFLICT" "BETWEEN THE NEANDERTHALS AND THE CRO-MAGNONS," "IF THE CRO-MAGNONS COULD USE THEIR GREATER SPEED" "AND THEIR ADVANTAGES WITH THE WEAPONS," "THEY WOULD PROBABLY HAVE BEATEN THE NEANDERTHALS HANDILY." "[breathing heavily]" "(narrator) THE NEANDERTHAL SPIES HAVE TRIED THEIR BEST" "TO OUTRUN THE CRO-MAGNON HUNTERS WHO SPOTTED THEM BY THE RIVERBANK." "BUT BEFORE LONG, THEIR STOCKY BODIES BETRAYED THEM," "AND THEY WERE FORCED TO REST." "BETWEEN HEAVY BREATHS, THEY CAN HEAR THE CRO-MAGNONS CLOSING IN." "IT'S POINTLESS TO RUN ANY FURTHER." "THEIR FOOTPRINTS WILL ONLY GIVE THEM AWAY." "THE NEANDERTHALS BRACE FOR ATTACK." "THEY'VE SEEN WHAT THE CRO-MAGNONS ARE CAPABLE OF," "AND THEY SMELL DANGER." "[grunts]" "(narrator) WE ONCE SHARED THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE" "WITH A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TYPE OF HUMAN," "AND THE PROOF IS RIGHT BENEATH OUR FEET." "[sniffs]" "(narrator) THE EARLIEST MODERN HUMAN REMAINS" "UNEARTHED IN EUROPE DATE TO AT LEAST 35.000 YEARS AGO." "THE LATEST NEANDERTHAL FOSSILS FOUND THERE" "ARE LESS THAN 30.000 YEARS OLD." "THAT'S AN OVERLAP OF AT LEAST 5.000 YEARS," "EQUAL TO THE SPAN OF TIME THAT SEPARATES US" "FROM THE FIRST PHARAOH OF ANCIENT EGYPT." "THE CHALLENGE FACED BY TODAY'S ANTHROPOLOGISTS," "GENETICISTS, AND ARCHAEOLOGISTS" "IS TO DETERMINE THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE TWO GROUPS" "ENCOUNTERED EACH OTHER OVER THOSE MANY MILLENNIA" "AND THE IMPACT THEIR CLASHES MIGHT HAVE HAD ON EACH SPECIES." "(Rennie) IT'S UNCLEAR WHAT THEIR RELATIONSHIP WAS." "THEY MIGHT, FOR MUCH OF THE TIME, HAVE BEEN ABLE TO PEACEFULLY COEXIST." "THEY MAY HAVE BEEN AT WAR." "ALL WE DO KNOW IS THAT AT SOME POINT," "THERE WERE MODERN HUMANS THERE, AND THE NEANDERTHALS WERE GONE." "(narrator) AT PRESENT, THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD" "DOESN'T PROVIDE INDISPUTABLE PROOF OF DIRECT INTERACTION" "BETWEEN NEANDERTHALS AND CRO-MAGNONS," "BUT THERE ARE A FEW CLUES THAT SUGGEST THERE MIGHT HAVE BEEN NOT ONLY CONTACT" "BUT EVEN AN EXCHANGE OF IDEAS BETWEEN THE TWO GROUPS." "IN THE 1840s," "IN THE REGION OF CHATELPERRON, FRANCE," "A RAILROAD ENGINEER UNCOVERED AN ASSORTMENT OF PRIMITIVE STONE TOOLS" "AND BONE FRAGMENTS OF LONG-DEAD ANIMALS." "AT THE TIME, MODERN ARCHAEOLOGY WAS IN ITS INFANCY." "THE FIRST NEANDERTHAL SKULL WOULDN'T BE IDENTIFIED" "FOR ANOTHER DECADE." "THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THESE TOOLS WOULDN'T BE FULLY UNDERSTOOD" "FOR OVER A CENTURY." "THESE TOOLS ARE MORE SOPHISTICATED" "THAN THOSE TYPICALLY MADE BY NEANDERTHALS," "HAVING SHARPER-EDGED BLADES, FOR INSTANCE." "BUT THEY'RE STILL TOO CRUDE TO BELONG TO CRO-MAGNONS." "SIMILAR TOOLS HAVE BEEN FOUND MORE RECENTLY" "ALONGSIDE NEANDERTHAL REMAINS." "AS SUCH, THEY ARE WIDELY INTERPRETED" "TO BE THE WORK OF ENLIGHTENED NEANDERTHALS." "(Tattersall) THE CHATELPERRONIAN PROBABLY WAS THE WORK OF NEANDERTHALS," "SO HOW DID NEANDERTHALS ACQUIRE" "THESE PARTICULAR CRO-MAGNON FEATURES" "OF THEIR TECHNOLOGY?" "IT'S BEEN SUGGESTED THAT TRADE WAS INVOLVED." "IF IT WAS TRADE, THERE WAS SOMETHING PEACEFUL IN THE INTERACTION." "IT COULD HAVE BEEN SIMPLY, A SMART NEANDERTHAL" "FOUND SOME CRO-MAGNON TOOLS AND SAID," ""OH, THESE ARE NEAT", AND FIGURED OUT HOW TO MAKE THEM." "IT WOULD BE A STRETCH TO IMAGINE THAT NEANDERTHALS," "AFTER SPENDING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS" "NOT DEVELOPING THIS KIND OF ARTIFACTS," "THAT SUDDENLY, THEY START MAKING THEM" "VERY CLOSE TO THE TIME THAT MODERN HUMANS" "ARE ALSO MAKING THEM IN EUROPE." "I THINK THAT SORT OF BEGS THE QUESTION," "PERHAPS IT WAS TOO MUCH OF A COINCIDENCE THAT THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED." "(narrator) THE EVIDENCE IS STRONG THAT THE TWO HUMAN GROUPS" "CAME ACROSS EACH OTHER'S TOOLS," "BUT DID THEY REALLY COME ACROSS EACH OTHER?" "THE LAYERS OF SEDIMENT AT CHATELPERRON" "TEASE THAT POSSIBILITY." "THERE, THE DEEPEST-DATED ARTIFACTS" "ARE THOUGHT TO BE NEANDERTHAL IN ORIGIN" "BUT DEMONSTRATE THE SUBTLE INFLUENCE OF MORE ADVANCED TOOLMAKERS." "THEY HAVE BEEN TRACED TO APPROXIMATELY 38.000 B.C.," "PLUS OR MINUS A FEW HUNDRED YEARS." "THE MIDDLE LAYER IS MORE ADVANCED, CONSISTENT WITH THE TOOL TECHNOLOGY" "OF FULLY MODERN HUMANS," "AND DATES BETWEEN 34.000 AND 38.000 B.C." "BUT THE ARTIFACTS CLOSEST TO THE SURFACE" "ARE AGAIN ATTRIBUTED TO NEANDERTHALS" "AND DATE BETWEEN 32.000 AND 34.000 B.C." "(Harvati) AND THEY WERE ABLE TO DATE THESE THROUGH AN ADVANCE" "IN THE RADIOCARBON DATING TECHNIQUE," "WHICH IS CALLED ACCELERATED MASS SPECTROMETRY," "RADIOCARBON DATING." "SO THE GREAT ADVANCE IN THIS METHOD IS THAT" "THEY CAN TAKE VERY, VERY SMALL AMOUNTS OF CARBON" "AND DATE IT. -(narrator) AS LABORATORY TECHNOLOGY HAS IMPROVED," "RADIOCARBON DATES HAVE BECOME MORE RELIABLE," "ALLOWING TODAY'S SCIENTISTS TO PINPOINT THE AGE" "OF PREHISTORIC ARTIFACTS WITH UNPRECEDENTED ACCURACY." "(Holliday) RADIOCARBON WORKS WITH A RADIO ISOTOPE OF CARBON." "IT'S CARBON 14." "OVER TIME, AFTER YOU DIE, YOU'RE NO LONGER TAKING CARBON IN," "SO ALL OF THE CARBON 14 THAT YOU HAVE IN YOUR BODY" "NOW IS GOING TO SLOWLY DEGRADE OVER TIME TO NITROGEN," "AND WHAT WE DO IN CARBON 14 DATING IS," "WE MEASURE THE PROPORTION OF CARBON 14 ATOMS" "THAT ARE STILL PRESENT IN YOUR BODY," "SO IT'S A MEASUREMENT OF THE TIME SINCE YOU DIED." "(narrator) THE LATEST RADIOCARBON DATES AT CHATELPERRON SUGGEST" "THAT NEANDERTHALS AND CRO-MAGNONS" "LIVED IN THE AREA DURING ROUGHLY THE SAME PERIOD OF PREHISTORY." "IN LIGHT OF THIS EVIDENCE, MANY ANTHROPOLOGISTS" "NOW FIRMLY BELIEVE THE TWO SPECIES" "MUST HAVE CROSSED PATHS," "BUT THE NATURE OF THESE ENCOUNTERS IS STILL UNCERTAIN." "(Tattersall) I THINK IT'S ALMOST CERTAIN THAT THEY MUST HAVE COME IN CONTACT." "IT'S VERY VERY UNLIKELY THERE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN" "SOME KIND OF DIRECT CONFLICT BETWEEN THE CRO-MAGNONS AND THE NEANDERTHALS," "IF ONLY BECAUSE WE KNOW" "HOW NASTY WE ARE TO EACH OTHER TODAY." "(narrator) THE EXISTING FOSSIL RECORD COMBINED WITH" "THE WELL-DOCUMENTED COMPLEXITIES OF OUR OWN HUMAN NATURE" "ALLOWS FOR AN EDUCATED GUESS ON WHAT MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED" "WHEN CRO-MAGNONS AND NEANDERTHALS CLASHED." "IT IS AN EARLY APRIL MORNING 30.000 YEARS AGO," "AND SUBALPINE EUROPE IS JUST BEGINNING TO THAW" "AFTER A BRUTAL ICE AGE WINTER." "THE SCATTERED CLANS OF CRO-MAGNONS LIVING IN THE REGION" "ARE SPENDING SOME FINAL DAYS TOGETHER IN THEIR COMMUNAL ENCAMPMENT." "EACH YEAR, HUNDREDS GATHER HERE" "AND SHARE FOOD, WARMTH, AND FELLOWSHIP" "ACROSS THE LONG, DARK WINTER." "(Tattersall) THE CRO-MAGNONS CAMPED IN THE OPEN." "THEY WEREN'T CAVEMEN IN THE SENSE" "THAT THEY COULD ONLY LIVE IN PLACES WHERE THERE WERE CAVES" "TO GIVE THEM SHELTER." "AND THERE IS ONE VERY, VERY EXCITING SITE THAT IS BEING EXCAVATED RIGHT NOW" "WHERE APPARENTLY LARGE NUMBERS," "HUNDREDS OF CRO-MAGNONS, MIGHT HAVE LIVED" "DURING THE VERY SEVERE WINTERS WHEN TEMPERATURES" "WERE DOWN TO MINUS 30 DEGREES." "THERE IS PLENTY OF EVIDENCE THERE OF FIRES AND HEARTHS AND SO ON." "(narrator) THIS WINTER, THE CRO-MAGNONS HAVE HAD" "A CURIOUS PAIR OF GUESTS:" "THE TWO NEANDERTHAL SPIES WHO WERE FOUND" "IN A NEARBY FOREST THREE MONTHS AGO." "THEY HAD ASSUMED THEIR CAPTURE WOULD MEAN CERTAIN DEATH," "BUT THEY WERE SPARED, LESS OUT OF MERCY THAN CURIOSITY," "AND BROUGHT TO THE CAMP ALIVE." "THEY MAY LOOK AND ACT A BIT DIFFERENTLY," "BUT THEY ARE PROVING TO BE EVERY BIT AS HUMAN." "(Holliday) NEANDERTHALS ARE A DICHOTOMY." "THEY'RE VERY MUCH LIKE US IN MANY WAYS," "AND THEY'RE VERY DIFFERENT FROM US IN OTHER WAYS." "AND THAT, TO ME, IS WHAT'S BEEN FASCINATING" "ABOUT THE NEANDERTHALS, IS THAT HERE YOU HAVE" "A POPULATION THAT ARE LIVING" "SIDE BY SIDE WITH MODERN HUMANS, COMPETING WITH THEM," "PERHAPS INTERBREEDING WITH THEM," "AND THIS IS THE LAST CLOSELY RELATED SPECIES TO US" "THAT WENT EXTINCT, AND I THINK FOR THAT REASON," "WE SHOULD BE FASCINATED BY IT." "WE SURVIVED;" "THEY DIDN'T." "(narrator) AT THE WINTER CAMP, THE NEANDERTHALS" "ARE BEING EXPOSED TO A WORLD OF NEW IDEAS," "SOUNDS, SMELLS, AND FLAVORS." "[dog barks]" "BY OBSERVING THE CRO-MAGNON TECHNIQUES" "OF SHELTER CONSTRUCTION, WOODWORKING," "BLADE-CUTTING, AND EVEN COMMUNICATION," "THEY'RE GETTING A CRASH COURSE IN MODERN HUMAN BEHAVIOR." "AND THEY'RE IN NO RUSH TO REJOIN THEIR OWN CLAN." "THAT IS, UNTIL THEY SENSE IMMINENT DANGER." "A NEW GROUP OF CRO-MAGNONS HAS ARRIVED IN CAMP." "ONE OF THE NEWCOMERS, A TALL, IMPOSING HUNTER," "LOOKS ODDLY FAMILIAR." "WITH HIM ARE TWO MORE FACES" "THE NEANDERTHALS RECOGNIZE:" "THEIR SISTERS," "WHO WERE KIDNAPPED IN THE AMBUSH ON THEIR CAVE" "ALMOST NINE MONTHS AGO." "THEY LOOK TIRED, PALE, AND PROFOUNDLY UNHAPPY." "ALL EYES ARE ON THE NEANDERTHAL BROTHERS" "TO SEE HOW THEY WILL REACT." "ONE PREPARES TO POUNCE... [vocalizing]" "(narrator) BUT THE MEN AROUND HIM HOLD HIM BACK." "THEN THE BROTHERS NOTICE SOMETHING" "EVEN MORE UNSETTLING." "ONE OF THEIR SISTERS IS PREGNANT." "[percussive music]" "(narrator) IMAGINE, IF YOU WILL, IT IS THE NIGHT AFTER" "THE ARRIVAL OF THE NEANDERTHAL WOMEN AT THE CRO-MAGNON WINTER CAMP," "AND THEIR BROTHERS ARE STILL AWAKE, WAITING PATIENTLY FOR THE RIGHT MOMENT" "TO SNEAK THEM AWAY FROM THEIR CAPTORS." "INSIDE THE MAIN HUT, THE HUNTERS ARE ASLEEP," "BUT THE NEANDERTHAL WOMEN LAY AWAKE," "CLINGING TO THE HOPE OF RESCUE." "[intense percussive music]" "♪ ♪" "AFTER SEVERAL TENSE MINUTES, THEY TIPTOE OUT" "TO MEET THEIR BROTHERS..." "AND THE FOURSOME IS ABSORBED INTO THE DARK FOREST." "[speaking urgently]" "(narrator) JUST AFTER DAWN, THE PREGNANT SISTER FEELS" "THE FIRST PAINS OF LABOR." "HER BABY, CONCEIVED AROUND THE TIME" "SHE WAS KIDNAPPED BY CRO-MAGNONS, IS COMING SOON;" "THAT MUCH IS CLEAR." "WHAT'S LESS CLEAR, AT LEAST TO HER SIBLINGS," "IS THE IDENTITY OF ITS FATHER." "IT MAY BE A CRO-MAGNON." "(Bailey) IF NEANDERTHALS AND MODERN HUMANS" "WERE TO HAVE EVER MET AND COME INTO CONTACT WITH ONE ANOTHER," "THERE IS NOTHING THAT WOULD HAVE HELD THEM BACK FROM MATING WITH ONE ANOTHER." "MY QUESTION IS, IF THEY DID, DID IT SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECT" "OUR GENE POOL, MODERN HUMAN GENE POOL, AND, YOU KNOW, WERE THE OFFSPRING" "OF THESE MATING EVEN VIABLE OR FERTILE?" "AND THIS IS SOMETHING THAT I STILL THINK WE HAVE YET TO DEMONSTRATE." "(narrator) ONE OF THE GREATEST DEBATES IN ANTHROPOLOGY" "IS OVER THE LIKELIHOOD OF INTERBREEDING" "BETWEEN NEANDERTHALS AND CRO-MAGNONS." "MOST ANTHROPOLOGISTS BELIEVE THE TWO GROUPS" "WERE NOT GENETICALLY COMPATIBLE." "(Tattersall) IT'S NOT IMPOSSIBLE THAT A LITTLE BIT OF PLEISTOCENE" "HANKY-PANKY MIGHT NOT HAVE TAKEN PLACE FROM TIME TO TIME," "BUT I THINK THERE IS REALLY NO FIRM EVIDENCE" "FOR BELIEVING THAT THERE WAS ANY LARGE-SCALE INTERCHANGE" "OF GENES BETWEEN THE TWO POPULATIONS." "(narrator) BUT A VOCAL MINORITY ASSERTS THAT EVEN IF NEANDERTHALS" "AND CRO-MAGNONS WERE DIFFERENT SPECIES," "INTERBREEDING WAS NOT ONLY POSSIBLE BUT LIKELY." "BIOLOGISTS HAVE FOUND THAT THERE'S INTERBREEDING" "BETWEEN WHAT HAD BEEN CONSIDERED PERFECTLY GOOD SPECIES." "FOR EXAMPLE, MULE DEER AND WHITE-TAILED DEER:" "CONSIDERED DIFFERENT SPECIES, BUT THEY'VE DISCOVERED MITOCHONDRIAL DNA EVIDENCE" "FOR INTERBREEDING BETWEEN THOSE TWO SPECIES." "LYNX AND BOBCAT:" "THEY ARE CONSIDERED SEPARATE SPECIES," "AND YET THEY'VE FOUND HIGH LEVELS OF INTERBREEDING," "AND I THINK PERHAPS THAT'S THE SAME THING WE HAD" "WITH NEANDERTHALS AND MODERN HUMANS." "I BELIEVE THEY STILL WOULD HAVE BEEN CAPABLE" "OF INTERBREEDING AND HAVING VIABLE, FERTILE OFFSPRING." "(narrator) IF HOLLIDAY'S THEORY IS CORRECT, THEN IT'S POSSIBLE" "THAT NEANDERTHALS DIDN'T DIE OUT IN A DRAMATIC EXTINCTION." "RATHER, WE MIGHT ALL HAVE" "A LITTLE NEANDERTHAL BLOOD IN US." "AT A ROCK SHELTER IN CENTRAL PORTUGAL CALLED LAGAR VELHO," "THE ODDLY SHAPED SKELETON OF A FOUR-YEAR-OLD CHILD" "TESTIFIES TO THAT POSSIBILITY." "IT WAS BORN 24.000 YEARS AGO," "LONG AFTER THE LAST OF THE NEANDERTHALS" "IS THOUGHT TO HAVE DIED," "BUT IT DOESN'T LOOK ENTIRELY MODERN." "(Rennie) HIS BODY WAS STOCKY," "MUCH MORE LIKE THAT OF A SORT OF NEANDERTHAL FORM." "NOW, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?" "WELL, PERHAPS HE WAS JUST SORT OF A STRANGE-LOOKING CHILD," "BUT THERE ARE AT LEAST SOME SPECULATION" "THAT MAYBE THIS WAS A HYBRID BETWEEN CRO-MAGNONS AND NEANDERTHALS." "(narrator) THE SKULL OF THE CHILD LOOKS A LOT LIKE OURS," "WITH A PRONOUNCED CHIN, SMALL TEETH," "AND A MODERN INNER EAR CANAL," "BUT ONE ASPECT OF IT DEPARTS DRAMATICALLY" "FROM HOMO SAPIENS." "THE BACK OF THE BRAINCASE EXTENDS OUT HORIZONTALLY," "LIKE A NEANDERTHAL'S." "THE FACT THAT IT RETAINS SOME NEANDERTHAL FEATURES" "SUGGESTS THAT THERE WAS INTERBREEDING" "BETWEEN NEANDERTHALS AND MODERN HUMANS" "IN IBERIA PRIOR TO 24.000 YEARS AGO." "(narrator) THE LAGAR VELHO CHILD IS THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL LINCHPIN" "IN THE ARGUMENT FOR INTERBREEDING," "BUT ITS CURIOUS CHARACTERISTICS HAVEN'T SWAYED THE SKEPTICS." "(Bailey) AND I TEND TO GO WITH THE VIEW THAT IT WAS PROBABLY" "JUST A CHUNKY KID," "A MODERN HUMAN CHILD, AND I DON'T..." "AT THIS POINT, I DON'T SEE THE EVIDENCE AS BEING CONVINCING THAT IT'S A HYBRID." "THE AGE OF THE SKELETON IS AROUND 24.000 YEARS OLD," "SO THAT MEANS THAT IT'S 6.000 YEARS" "AFTER NEANDERTHALS GO EXTINCT." "THE DENTITION OF LAGAR VELHO" "IS COMPLETELY MODERN IN EVERY WAY," "AND IF THE TEETH LOOK COMPLETELY MODERN," "THEN IN MY OPINION, IT'S A MODERN KID." "(narrator) WHILE ARCHAEOLOGISTS ARE SIFTING THROUGH THE SOIL" "FOR MORE CLUES ABOUT INTERBREEDING," "GENETICISTS ARE SIFTING THROUGH DNA." "(Bailey) THE MOST PROMISING TECHNOLOGY THAT WE HAVE IN TERMS" "OF SOLVING THIS DEBATE OVER NEANDERTHALS" "AND MODERN HUMANS INTERBREEDING IS THE NEANDERTHAL GENOME." "(narrator) RESEARCHERS ON TWO CONTINENTS" "ARE UNLOCKING THE SECRETS IN NEANDERTHAL DNA" "AND BUILDING A GENETIC MAP OF THE SPECIES" "TO COMPARE TO OUR OWN." "ONE OF THE MOST PRESSING QUESTIONS THEY ARE LOOKING TO ANSWER" "IS WHETHER OUR OWN SPECIES INHERITED" "ANY NEANDERTHAL GENES." "(Paabo) WHAT WE WANT TO DO IS ACTUALLY DESCRIBE" "THE EXTENT TO WHICH THERE WAS A MIXTURE," "TO THE EXTENT OF WHICH NEANDERTHALS" "CONTRIBUTED VARIATION TO US TODAY, IF THEY DID," "AND THE EXTENT OF WHICH THE CONTRIBUTION" "WENT THE OTHER WAY, MODERN HUMANS INTO NEANDERTHALS," "OR ANCESTORS OF MODERN HUMANS INTO NEANDERTHALS," "AND WHEN WE HAVE DESCRIBED THAT, WE CAN KNOW" "FROM A GENETIC POINT OF VIEW WHAT WENT ON." "(narrator) SOME VITAL INFORMATION HAS ALREADY EMERGED" "FROM THE ONGOING RESEARCH." "SCIENTISTS HAVE SUCCESSFULLY ISOLATED" "THE MITOCHONDRIAL DNA OF NEANDERTHALS," "WHICH CAN TELL US WHAT GENES WE'VE INHERITED" "FROM OUR MOTHERS ALL THE WAY BACK THROUGH HUMAN HISTORY." "(Paabo) SO YOU REALLY LOOK AT THE FEMALE SIDE OF HISTORY" "WHEN YOU STUDY THAT PIECE OF DNA," "AND THE FINDING WAS THAT" "THE NEANDERTHAL MITOCHONDRIAL DNA LOOKS VERY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT WE FIND" "IN HUMANS THAT LIVE TODAY, SO FOR THE MITOCHONDRIAL GENOME," "IT'S VERY CLEAR THE NEANDERTHALS HAVE NOT CONTRIBUTED" "TO THE VARIATION IN HUMANS TODAY." "(narrator) IN OTHER WORDS, IT APPEARS THAT NO MODERN FEMALE LINEAGE" "THAT SURVIVES TODAY CARRIES ANY NEANDERTHAL GENES," "AND BASED ON THE EARLY RETURNS FROM THE OTHER SIDE" "OF THE GENETIC CODE, NEITHER DOES ANY MALE LINEAGE." "WE NOW HAVE DATA FOR THE "Y" CHROMOSOME" "THAT'S PASSED ON FROM FATHERS TO SONS" "THAT SHOWS THAT THEY HAVE NOT CONTRIBUTED" "ANY "Y" CHROMOSOME VARIATION INTO HUMANS THAT LIVE TODAY," "AND SO NO MALE ON THE PLANET TODAY" "CARRIES A "Y" CHROMOSOME THAT LOOKS QUITE LIKE" "THE NEANDERTHAL ONE." "(narrator) THESE FINDINGS DEAL A TOUGH BLOW TO THE INTERBREEDING THEORY," "BUT IT MAY BE TOO EARLY TO DRAW ANY FIRM CONCLUSIONS FROM THE DATA." "(Holliday) THE REASON THAT DNA STUDIES HAVE NOT SHOWN" "GENE TRANSFER THUS FAR, IN MY OPINION, IS THAT THE SAMPLE SIZES ARE VERY LOW," "AND THE AMOUNT OF INTERBREEDING THAT WAS OCCURRING," "I THINK, WAS VERY LOW." "WE ONLY HAVE EXTRACTED MITOCHONDRIAL DNA" "FROM SEVEN EARLY MODERN HUMANS AND ABOUT FIVE NEANDERTHALS." "THIS IS HARDLY A BIG ENOUGH SAMPLE" "FOR US TO RULE OUT SOME LEVEL OF INTERBREEDING" "BETWEEN THE TWO SPECIES." "(narrator) GIVEN THE CHALLENGES OF COLLECTING DNA" "FROM SUCH ANCIENT BONE FRAGMENTS, RESEARCHERS CONSIDER THEMSELVES LUCKY" "TO HAVE ANY VIABLE SAMPLES." "(Paabo) ONLY A SMALL MINORITY OF THE NEANDERTHAL REMAINS" "WE ACTUALLY ANALYZE THAT ARE WELL ENOUGH PRESERVED" "TO ALLOW ANALYSIS OF THE DNA." "OF AROUND 70 BONES WE HAVE ANALYZED SO FAR," "ONLY THREE OF THEM HAVE YIELDED PURE ENOUGH EXTRACTS" "THAT WE CAN ACTUALLY USE FOR GENOME SEQUENCING." "(narrator) THE DNA SAMPLES STUDIED THUS FAR MAY SUGGEST" "THAT NO ONE WALKING THE EARTH TODAY CARRIES A DROP OF NEANDERTHAL BLOOD," "BUT THERE'S STILL A POSSIBILITY THAT HYBRIDS DID EXIST" "AT SOME TIME IN THE REMOTE PAST." "[grunting]" "(narrator) IRONICALLY, IT COULD BE THAT THE CHILDREN" "OF INTERBREEDING WERE UNABLE TO REPRODUCE." "(Bailey) IF THE DNA RESEARCH WERE ABLE TO SHOW, FOR EXAMPLE," "THAT NEANDERTHAL AND MODERN HUMANS HAD DIFFERENT NUMBERS" "OF CHROMOSOMES, THEN WE WOULD HAVE A SITUATION" "LIKE WE SEE WITH DONKEYS AND HORSES WHO CAN MATE" "AND CAN PRODUCE VIABLE OFFSPRING, MULES," "BUT THEY'RE NOT FERTILE." "[breathing heavily]" "(narrator) IN OUR STORY, NEARLY NINE MONTHS HAVE PASSED" "SINCE THIS NEANDERTHAL WOMAN WAS ABDUCTED" "BY A GROUP OF CRO-MAGNON HUNTERS." "NOW, SHE'S ABOUT TO HAVE A BABY." "HER BROTHERS HAVE MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT THE BIRTH." "IT MAY NOT BE ONE OF THEIR OWN." "IT MAY NOT FIT INTO THEIR WORLD AND WAY OF LIFE." "IT MIGHT EVEN BE REJECTED BY THE CLAN." "BUT THE BABY IS HEALTHY." "IT IS A BOY," "AND REGARDLESS OF ITS FATHER'S IDENTITY," "IT IS FAMILY." "THERE ISN'T MUCH TIME TO CELEBRATE." "THE CRO-MAGNONS MAY ALREADY BE SEARCHING" "THE FOREST FOR THEM." "TIME IS NOW FOR THESE NEANDERTHALS TO RETURN TO THEIR CLAN" "WITH A NEW CHILD AND A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR CRO-MAGNON RIVALS." "BUT AS THEY SET OUT INTO THE FROZEN FOREST," "THE ODDS OF SURVIVAL ARE NOT IN THEIR FAVOR." "(narrator) SCIENCE CAN TELL US SOME BASICS ABOUT THE INTERSECTING LIVES" "OF NEANDERTHALS AND CRO-MAGNONS BASED ON ANALYSIS OF THE LIMITED FOSSIL RECORD," "BUT WITH 30.000 YEARS SEPARATING US FROM THEM," "IT TAKES SOME IMAGINATION TO FILL IN THE BLANKS." "ONE OF THE CENTRAL DEBATES AMONG ANTHROPOLOGISTS" "INVOLVES THE CAUSE OF NEANDERTHAL EXTINCTION," "AND ONE LEADING THEORY POINTS THE FINGER OF BLAME DIRECTLY AT US." "THE FOUR NEANDERTHALS WHO ESCAPED" "FROM THE CRO-MAGNON CAMP MANAGED TO AVOID CAPTURE" "AND RECONNECT WITH THEIR OWN CLAN" "TEN DAYS LATER," "BUT ONE OF THEM DIDN'T COME BACK ALIVE." "THE NEW MOTHER SURRENDERED TO A STRANGE" "AND FAST-MOVING VIRUS" "JUST HOURS BEFORE SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN REUNITED WITH HER KIN." "MONTHS EARLIER, ANOTHER MEMBER OF THE CLAN" "HAD DIED OF A SIMILAR ILLNESS." "IN A MOMENT OF DESPERATE STARVATION, THAT VICTIM HAD BEEN EATEN." "BUT WITH THE RETURN OF SPRING, THE CLAN'S FOOD SUPPLY HAS IMPROVED," "SO THE BODY OF THIS YOUNG MOTHER WILL BE BURIED WITH RESPECT." "(Harvati) WE KNOW THAT THEY DID BURY THEIR DEAD," "AND IT SEEMS TO BE PRETTY CONSISTENT THAT WE KEEP FINDING THESE SKELETONS" "IN POSITIONS THAT LOOK LIKE THEY'RE BURIED," "AND IT'S SORT OF THE SAME ANATOMICAL POSITION." "SO I THINK THE THE EVIDENCE OF BURIAL IS VERY STRONG" "AND DOES SUGGEST SOME SORT OF BELIEF," "SOME SORT OF RITUAL TREATMENT." "(narrator) ONE OF THE LINGERING MYSTERIES ABOUT NEANDERTHALS" "IS WHETHER THEY WERE SPIRITUAL CREATURES WHO BELIEVED IN A PURPOSE AND POWER" "GREATER THAN THEMSELVES." "(Holliday) A LOT OF PEOPLE SUGGEST" "THAT BURIAL MEANS NEANDERTHALS HAD SOME CONCEPT OF RELIGION," "THAT PERHAPS THEY EVEN HAD A CONCEPT OF THE AFTERLIFE," "AND THAT MAY BE THE CASE." "IT MAY ALSO BE THAT THEY BURIED THEIR DEAD" "JUST TO KEEP CARNIVORES FROM COMING AND SNIFFING AROUND THE CAVE." "(narrator) WHATEVER THE MOTIVATION FOR THEM," "THESE NEANDERTHAL GRAVES ARE SIGNIFICANT," "BECAUSE NO OTHER SPECIES OF HUMAN HAS LEFT ANY EVIDENCE" "OF INTENTIONAL BURIAL THIS LONG AGO IN EUROPE," "NOT EVEN OUR OWN." "(Holliday) WE DO NOT HAVE ANY EARLY MODERN HUMAN BURIALS FROM THE TIME PERIOD" "OF COEXISTENCE IN EUROPE." "THAT DOESN'T MEAN MODERN HUMANS WEREN'T BURYING THEIR DEAD." "IT JUST MEANS WE HAVEN'T FOUND THEM YET." "THE EARLIEST MODERN HUMAN BURIALS FOUND IN EUROPE" "DATE TO JUST AFTER THE NEANDERTHALS DISAPPEARED," "AND THEY ARE MUCH MORE ELABORATE." "(Harvati) EARLY MODERN HUMAN GRAVES WILL HAVE THINGS LIKE OCHER" "ALL OVER THE SKELETON." "THEY'LL HAVE BEADS;" "THEY'LL HAVE SHELLS," "GRAVE GOODS THAT ARE TOTALLY ABSENT FROM THE EARLIER GRAVES." "(narrator) IN RUSSIA, A 24.000-YEAR-OLD TOMB" "HOLDS A CRO-MAGNON MAN ADORNED WITH THOUSANDS OF IVORY BEADS." "CLEARLY, HE WAS AN IMPORTANT PERSON," "WHO WAS GIVEN A VERY SACRED BURIAL." "HIS SUBJECTS PROBABLY VIEWED DEATH AS A PORTAL TO THE AFTERLIFE." "BUT IT'S UNCLEAR WHETHER THE NEANDERTHALS" "WHO CAME BEFORE THEM SHARED A SIMILAR BELIEF SYSTEM." "IN 1917, A SENSATIONAL DISCOVERY IN A SWISS CAVE" "HAD MANY PEOPLE THINKING THEY DID." "DEEP INSIDE, SCATTERED AMONG NEANDERTHAL TOOLS," "WERE THE BONES OF SEVERAL GIANT CAVE BEARS," "SOME OF THE MOST FEROCIOUS PREDATORS OF THE ICE AGE." "THE SKULLS OF THESE BEARS SEEMED TO BE STACKED NEATLY" "WITHIN AN OPENING BENEATH THE CAVE FLOOR" "IN AN ARRANGEMENT THAT SEEMED SUSPICIOUSLY INTENTIONAL." "THE AMATEUR ARCHAEOLOGIST WHO MADE THE DISCOVERY TOUTED IT" "AS EVIDENCE OF A NEANDERTHAL CULT" "OF CAVE BEAR WORSHIPPERS." "(Harvati) WELL, IT WAS THOUGHT ORIGINALLY THAT THESE FINDINGS" "IN SWITZERLAND INDICATED THAT NEANDERTHALS" "ACTUALLY COLLECTED THESE CAVE BEAR SKULLS" "AND SOMEHOW PLACED THEM IN STRANGE PLACES" "THAT INDICATED SOMEHOW A RITUAL." "THIS FINDING GAVE RISE TO THE IDEA OF SOME SORT" "OF RELIGION BASED ON THE WORSHIP OF THE CAVE BEAR" "AND GAVE RISE TO FAMOUS NOVELS AND MOVIES." "[laughs]" "(narrator) SUDDENLY, IN THE POPULAR IMAGINATION," "THESE STRANGE HUMANS WHO HAD BEEN THOUGHT OF" "AS IGNORANT BRUTES WERE RECAST AS THE FOUNDERS OF ORGANIZED RELIGION." "BUT TODAY'S MAINSTREAM SCHOLARS ARE SKEPTICAL" "OF THE SUPPOSED EVIDENCE." "(Harvati) IT HAS BEEN SHOWN THAT THESE WERE PROBABLY..." "THESE ARRANGEMENTS OF BONES WERE PROBABLY THE RESULT" "OF JUST RANDOM TAPHONOMIC PROCESSES:" "THE WATER MOVING IN THE STREAM CARRYING BONES, OR LET'S SAY" "THERE WAS AN EARTHQUAKE AND THE GROUND MOVES," "OR THERE WAS A CARNIVORE THAT PICKS THE BONES" "AND SORTS THEM OUT, OR A BIRD, AN OWL, OR WHAT HAVE YOU." "(Tattersall) THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF OVERINTERPRETATION" "IN THE HISTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGY, AND MANY INTERPRETATIONS" "THAT WERE MADE, PARTICULARLY IN EARLIER YEARS," "HAVE TURNED OUT TO BE RATHER FANCIFUL." "SO YOU HAVE TO BE A LITTLE CAREFUL WHEN YOU'RE INTERPRETING" "YOUR EVIDENCE THAT YOU ARE FINDING." "THE EVIDENCE ITSELF IS MUTE, AND WHAT YOU SAY ABOUT IT" "DEPENDS VERY MUCH ON WHAT'S GOING ON IN YOUR MIND." "(narrator) THE SWISS CAVE FINDINGS" "MAY HAVE BEEN EXAGGERATED BY AN OVERZEALOUS EXPLORER..." "BUT THE OVERALL IMPRESSION THEY FOSTERED," "THAT NEANDERTHALS WERE CAPABLE" "OF FULLY HUMAN THOUGHT AND EMOTION, REMAINS VIABLE." "(Tattersall) THE NEANDERTHALS WERE EXTREMELY ADMIRABLE," "EXTREMELY RESOURCEFUL, EXTREMELY INTERESTING CREATURES," "AND IF WE DISMISS THEM BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T MAKE IT" "IN COMPETITION WITH MODERN HUMANS," "I THINK WE ARE DENYING THEM AN IDENTITY." "AND ONLY IF WE DIGNIFY THEM WITH AN IDENTITY" "WILL WE EVER REALLY BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THEM" "IN THEIR OWN TERMS, AS THEY OUGHT TO BE UNDERSTOOD." "[coughing]" "(narrator) IN OUR STORY, THE DISEASE THAT TOOK THE LIFE" "OF THE YOUNG NEANDERTHAL MOTHER DIDN'T DIE WITH HER." "HER THREE SIBLINGS WHO HELPED HER ESCAPE" "FROM THE CRO-MAGNON CAMP ARE ALSO INFECTED." "DURING THEIR CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH MODERN HUMANS," "IT APPEARS THEY WERE EXPOSED NOT ONLY TO NEW IDEAS" "BUT TO NEW PATHOGENS." "SOME MODERN SCIENTISTS THEORIZE THAT THIS IS HOW" "THE NEANDERTHALS BECAME EXTINCT." "OUR ANCESTORS, HOMO SAPIENS, MAY HAVE KILLED OFF" "THE NEANDERTHALS NOT WITH A CLUB" "BUT PROBABLY WITH A SNEEZE." "MY BET WOULD BE THAT NEANDERTHALS" "FELL AFOUL OF RESPIRATORY-RELATED INFECTIONS" "FROM MEMBERS OF OUR OWN SPECIES." "(Hofreiter) IT IS CERTAINLY POSSIBLE THAT NEANDERTHALS LACKED THE IMMUNITY" "FOR SOME OF THE DISEASES MODERN HUMANS HAD," "LIKE IT WAS WITH NATIVE AMERICANS WHEN MODERN EUROPEANS ENTERED AMERICA." "AND THEREFORE, IT IS POSSIBLE" "THAT DISEASES PLAYED SOME ROLE IN THE NEANDERTHAL EXTINCTION." "(narrator) TRAGICALLY, OUT OF EVERYTHING THE NEANDERTHAL SIBLINGS" "HAVE BROUGHT BACK FROM THEIR ENCOUNTER" "WITH MODERN HUMANS..." "THE KNOWLEDGE OF FISHING," "OF TOOLMAKING, COMMUNICATION, ART, MUSIC..." "THE ONLY THING THAT WILL HAVE ANY REAL IMPACT ON THEIR LIVES" "IS THIS MYSTERIOUS DISEASE." "[speaking indistinctly]" "(narrator) WITHIN A MONTH'S TIME, NEARLY EVERY MEMBER OF THIS CLAN WILL BE DEAD." "AND THOSE THAT DO SURVIVE WILL BE AMONG" "THE LAST LIVING MEMBERS OF A SPECIES" "ON THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION." "[rumbling percussive music]" "♪ ♪" "(narrator) IT IS EARLY SPRING, 28.000 B.C." "AT OUR CRO-MAGNON WINTER CAMP, THE TIME HAS COME TO HEAD OUT" "AND FOLLOW THE HERDS FOR THE SUMMER." "BUT IN A NEARBY CAVE, TWO MEMBERS OF THE TRIBE" "HAVE SOME UNFINISHED BUSINESS." "THEY ARE PUTTING THE FINAL TOUCHES" "ON A MURAL THEY'VE WORKED ON ALL WINTER." "USING NATURAL DYES FOUND IN CHARCOAL AND THE MINERAL OCHER," "THESE EARLY MODERN ARTISTS ARE PAINTING THE PREY THEY HOPE TO ENCOUNTER" "THIS SEASON:" "BISON, HORSES," "AND EVEN LONG-HORNED GOATS NAMED IBEXES." "[scraping noise]" "LONG AFTER THEY ARE GONE, THEIR MURAL WILL ENDURE" "AS STRIKING EVIDENCE OF MODERN MAN'S CREATIVITY" "AT THE DAWN OF PREHISTORY..." "EVIDENCE THAT CAN BE SEEN EVEN TODAY" "DEEP INSIDE THE CHAUVET CAVE IN FRANCE." "(Harvati) UP UNTIL THE DISCOVERY OF THE CHAUVET CAVE," "CAVE PAINTINGS WERE KNOWN FROM LATER PERIODS" "OF THE UPPER PALEOLITHIC, SO THIS WAS REALLY" "A VERY NICE FINDING, BECAUSE IT PUT CAVE PAINTINGS" "MUCH CLOSER TO THE ARRIVAL OF MODERN PEOPLE IN EUROPE." "WE ALREADY KNEW THAT THEY WERE CAPABLE OF ART," "BUT NOW THIS COMPLETES THE PICTURE." "(Tattersall) THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT, BECAUSE WHAT SETS US OFF" "AS A SPECIES FROM, AS FAR AS WE KNOW, EVERY OTHER SPECIES THAT'S EVER EXISTED" "IS THE SYMBOLIC ABILITY" "TO REMAKE THE WORLD IN OUR MINDS." "WE DON'T LIVE IN THE WORLD EXACTLY AS NATURE PRESENTS ITSELF TO US," "AND THAT'S WHAT MAKES US SO DIFFERENT." "(narrator) THE CRO-MAGNONS NOW OCCUPY TERRITORY" "THROUGHOUT THE EUROPEAN CONTINENT, HAVING PUSHED THE REMAINING NEANDERTHALS" "INTO SMALL AND ISOLATED POCKETS OF IBERIA," "SOUTHERN ITALY, AND THE BALKANS." "SLOWLY BUT SURELY, THEY ARE WINNING THE GAME OF SURVIVAL." "(Holliday) WHY DID WE COME OUT ON TOP?" "THAT IS..." "THAT IS THE MILLION-DOLLAR QUESTION." "WHEN THE NEANDERTHALS ULTIMATELY DISAPPEARED," "I DOUBT THAT THE IMPACT WAS FELT" "BY THE EARLY MODERN HUMAN POPULATIONS." "I THINK THE NEANDERTHALS WENT OUT WITH A WHISPER RATHER THAN A BANG," "AND THE IMPACT ON MODERN HUMAN POPULATIONS" "WAS PROBABLY VERY SMALL." "(narrator) THE LAST SURVIVING MEMBER OF THE NEANDERTHAL CLAN IS ON THE MOVE." "SHE IS CARRYING THE BABY BOY" "WHOSE NEANDERTHAL MOTHER UNKNOWINGLY SPREAD THE VIRUS" "THAT WIPED OUT MOST OF HER FAMILY." "THE BABY SURVIVED, THANKS TO THIS WOMAN," "WHO WISELY DISTANCED THE CHILD FROM THE CLAN" "AFTER HIS MOTHER'S ILLNESS BEGAN TO SPREAD." "THEY HAVE BEEN WANDERING FOR NEARLY THREE WEEKS" "IN SEARCH OF A NEW COMMUNITY." "[baby crying]" "THE WOMAN WAS A WET NURSE FOR OTHER CHILDREN OF THE CLAN," "SO SHE IS ABLE TO NOURISH THE CHILD." "[baby crying]" "SHE HAS MANAGED TO FEED HERSELF ON PLANTS AND SMALL GAME," "LIKE SQUIRRELS AND RABBITS, BUT SHE KNOWS THE FOREST" "IS NO PLACE FOR A WOMAN AND CHILD TO SURVIVE ON THEIR OWN." "ICE AGE EUROPE WAS DEFINITELY NOT A PLACE YOU WANTED TO GO." "THEY HAD CAVE LIONS." "THEY HAD CAVE HYENAS." "THEY HAD WOLVES." "THEY HAD ALL MANNER OF OTHER PREDATORS." "THIS WAS A VERY DANGEROUS PLACE TO LIVE." "HUMANS..." "OR, NEANDERTHALS WERE PROBABLY ON THE MENU" "FOR A VARIETY OF OTHER CARNIVORE SPECIES." "(narrator) THE WOMAN YEARNS FOR THE SUPPORT AND SAFETY OF A NEW CLAN," "BUT WHAT SHE DOESN'T REALIZE IS THAT HER SPECIES" "IS NOW CRITICALLY ENDANGERED," "AND SHE AND THIS BABY ARE AMONG THE LAST OF THE BREED." "(Shea) THE NUMBERS PROBABLY DWINDLED TO A VERY SMALL NUMBER." "THEY MAY HAVE, AT THIS POINT, TRIED TO SEPARATED THEMSELVES" "FROM THE CRO-MAGNONS, WHO, BY THIS POINT," "WOULD HAVE BEEN COVERING THE BEST TERRITORIES." "THE LAST NEANDERTHAL PROBABLY DIED A VERY LONELY DEATH." "(Rennie) THERE ARE SO MANY POSSIBLE CULPRITS" "FOR WHO MIGHT HAVE FINISHED OFF THE NEANDERTHALS." "MAYBE IT WAS THE HUMANS." "MAYBE IT WAS THE CLIMATE;" "MAYBE THEY RAN OUT OF GAME." "MAYBE IT WAS SOME KIND OF DISEASE." "IT'S MAYBE TEMPTING TO TRY TO PIN IT ALL ON JUST ONE," "BUT, YOU KNOW, THIS MAY NOT BE LIKE" "ASTEROID-KILLING-THE-DINOSAURS STUFF." "IT MAY BE A COMBINATION OF LOTS OF DIFFERENT FACTORS." "(narrator) MOST ANTHROPOLOGISTS SEEM TO AGREE" "THAT THE CRO-MAGNONS HAD SOMETHING TO DO" "WITH THE DEMISE OF NEANDERTHALS." "(Harvati) WHAT WAS DIFFERENT IS THAT OUR ANCESTORS WERE AROUND," "AND WHETHER THIS CAME TO VIOLENT INTERACTION OR NOT," "THERE WAS CERTAINLY SOME LEVEL OF COMPETITION GOING ON." "AFTER ALL, THEY WERE HUNTING THE SAME ANIMALS." "THEY WERE COMPETING FOR THE SAME RESOURCES." "SO WAS IT OUR ANCESTORS" "THAT REALLY LED TO THEIR EXTINCTION?" "I THINK IT WAS A VERY IMPORTANT FACTOR." "(narrator) BUT THE PRIMARY FACTOR MAY HAVE BEEN NOT MODERN MAN" "BUT MOTHER NATURE." "(Bailey) AT 30.000 YEARS AGO, THE CLIMATE CHANGED" "IN SUCH A WAY THAT THEY WERE NO LONGER ABLE TO ADAPT." "IT'S VERY COLD." "IN FACT, THE CLIMATE FLUCTUATES," "IT HAS VERY HIGH FLUCTUATIONS DURING SHORT PERIODS OF TIME," "AND IF YOU COMPOUND THAT WITH THE INFLUX OF MODERN HUMANS" "INTO EUROPE ABOUT THE SAME TIME, IT WAS A PRETTY TOUGH EXISTENCE." "[water rushing]" "(narrator) AS THE ICE AGE DEEPENED, THE FORESTS SHRUNK," "AND SO DID THE RANGE OF THE NEANDERTHALS." "(Rennie) AS THE GLACIERS RETURNED AND THE CLIMATE CHANGED," "SUDDENLY, THE WOODED LANDS" "THAT THE NEANDERTHALS DEPENDED ON STARTED TO GO AWAY," "AND WITHOUT THAT, THEY WERE AT A SEVERE DISADVANTAGE." "THEY COULDN'T JUMP OUT FROM BEHIND TREES" "THAT WEREN'T THERE TO AMBUSH THEIR PREY." "THAT LEFT THEM SUDDENLY VERY, VERY HUNGRY." "(narrator) APART FROM CLIMATE AND CONQUEST, THERE ARE SOME WHO," "DESPITE THE LATEST DNA EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY," "STILL SUGGEST ONE OTHER POSSIBLE EXPLANATION" "FOR THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE NEANDERTHALS:" "THAT THEY DIDN'T REALLY DISAPPEAR AT ALL." "I'M NOT RULING OUT THE POSSIBILITY" "THAT THERE WAS SOME INTERBREEDING BETWEEN THE TWO" "AND THAT SOME NEANDERTHAL GENES MAY EVEN SURVIVE" "TO THE PRESENT DAY." "(narrator) WHATEVER DID HAPPEN TO THE NEANDERTHALS 30.000 YEARS AGO, THEIR DEMISE HAD A MAJOR IMPACT" "ON THE FUTURE OF OUR OWN SPECIES." "WITHOUT THE THREAT OF COMPETITION FROM ANY OTHERS," "CRO-MAGNON CULTURE EXPLODED IN EUROPE." "THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD IN THE POST-NEANDERTHAL AGE" "SHOWS STRIKING PROGRESS IN TOOLS," "TECHNOLOGY, ART, AND COMMUNICATION." "UNLIKE THEIR PREDECESSORS, MODERN HUMANS WERE CAPABLE" "OF ALTERING THE WORLD AROUND THEM TO SUIT THEIR OWN NEEDS," "AND WITH SUCH UNPRECEDENTED ABILITY" "CAME UNPRECEDENTED POWER." "YET FOR ALL OF OUR NATURAL ADVANTAGES," "IT REMAINS TO BE SEEN WHETHER OUR SPECIES" "CAN MATCH THE LONGEVITY OF THE NEANDERTHALS." "(Dibble) JUST THINK, WITH NEANDERTHALS LIVING IN EUROPE" "FOR 200.000. 250.000 YEARS MAYBE," "THAT'S A SUCCESSFUL ADAPTATION." "WE'VE BEEN DOING THIS FOR 40.000." "AND I THINK AFTER 100.000." "AFTER 200.000." "THEN I'LL SAY," ""OKAY, WE MIGHT HAVE BEEN A GOOD THING."" "IF WE CEASE TO EXIST IN ANOTHER 500 YEARS OR TOMORROW," "I'M GOING TO LOOK AT IT..." "IF I WAS STILL THINKING ABOUT IT..." "AS BEING A ROTTEN ADAPTATION." "(narrator) THERE IS STILL A LOT WE DON'T KNOW ABOUT HOW THE NEANDERTHALS LIVED" "AND HOW THEY DIED OUT." "BUT AS FURTHER CLUES CONTINUE TO EMERGE" "FROM THE FIELD AND THE LAB, WE MAY BE ABLE TO LEARN" "A FEW MORE OF THEIR SECRETS." "(Tattersall) WE ARE IN A VERY EXCITING PERIOD NOW," "LARGELY BECAUSE ALL OF THE NEW TECHNOLOGIES" "THAT ARE COMING ONLINE ARE ALLOWING US TO LOOK AT NEW KINDS OF EVIDENCE" "AND LOOK AT OLD KIND OF EVIDENCE IN NEW WAYS." "(Rennie) THE NEANDERTHALS ARE ALWAYS GOING TO BE KIND OF A MYSTERY TO US." "WE ARE STILL NEVER GOING TO KNOW EVERYTHING" "ABOUT HOW THEY LIVED, HOW THEY THOUGHT." "SOME OF THOSE KINDS OF THINGS ARE JUST NOT IN THE FOSSIL RECORD," "BUT WE CAN FILL IN THE GAPS AS BEST WE CAN," "AND I THINK WHAT'S GOING TO EMERGE" "IS A BETTER AND BETTER PICTURE OF THEM AS A KIND OF PERSON." "THE ASTONISHING THING ABOUT THE NEANDERTHALS WAS" "THAT THEY WERE PROBABLY THE TOUGHEST, SMARTEST," "MOST ADAPTABLE, RESOURCEFUL CREATURES" "THE WORLD HAD EVER SEEN UNTIL WE CAME ALONG."