The Human Journey

There are 7 billion humans on earth, spread across the entire planet.  Scientific evidence suggests that it all started with a tiny group of people who left Africa on an incredible journey.  Crossing the world in five epic journeys, this series follows the archaeological and genetic footprints of our ancient ancestors in search of the lost story of how their journeys transformed our species into the humans we are today and how we came to dominate the planet.  How did we go from being a small and vulnerable group in Africa, to colonizing every landmass on the planet?  It's amazing to think of what our ancestors had to face in their survival and the obstacles to their global migrations.  And perhaps the most serious threat of all: were other humans.  Go figure.  Why was it our species of human that was eventually the only one left?  The range of environments that our ancestors had to survive has shaped all color, facial features and diet.  We actually mutated in accordance to our environment in order to survive.  But despite these differences, we also discover how astonishingly closely related we all are.

OUT OF AFRICA - We go in search of the first humans and try to piece together a picture of how they managed to survive in the dangerous environment of pre-historic Africa around 200,000 years ago. 

AUSTRALIA - It's a huge puzzle, how our ancient ancestors made it as far as Australia from Africa, a journey that involved at least one sea crossing.  It’s even more puzzling that they arrived there long before our species reached the much closer continent of Europe.  Why was there a need for making a perilous crossing of an ocean?  Apart from some very ancient human remains in Australia that confirm the arrival of our species, there is very little to go on.  In this episode, we discover new evidence for this incredible journey.

ASIA - The journey into Asia, the world's greatest land mass.  How did early hunter gatherers manage to survive in some of the most inhospitable places on Earth and why did they take this route?  One clue may be found in the lifestyle of the people of Northern Siberia, whose lives are dictated by reindeer both wild and domestic, and their whose survival techniques appear to have been passed down through countless generations. 

EUROPE - Early modern humans traveled from Africa into the heart of Europe and what may have happened on this journey to change their skin color from brown to white.  The endurance so unimaginable as the conditions of the last Ice Age.  And how did they come to dominate a land already inhabited by the tough, resilient Neanderthal peoples?  Cave paintings, sculptures, tools and music-instrument finds suggest that these early modern humans were much more imaginative, inventive and sophisticated than was previously believed, and perhaps it was these very qualities of ingenuity and resourcefulness that gave them the advantage of their Neanderthal cousins.

THE AMERICAS - As to just how early modern humans came to conquer the Americas, and the perilous route they may have taken to reach this vast landmass, cut off as it is by mountains of ice to the North and oceans to the South.  The various routes these travelers may have taken and find convincing genetic evidence to suggest that their route from North to South may have followed the Pacific coastline.

It does truly amazes me…