200,000 years ago we took our first steps on the African savanna. Today there are 7 billion of us living across planet Earth.
How did our ancestors beat the odds and spread from continent to continent? What was the secret to their success?This is a global detective story, featuring new fossil finds and the latest genetic research. It’s a story that revolves around a shocking revelation. In prehistoric times, we met and mated with other types of human – like Neanderthals, Denisovans and Homo erectus. This mixing of genes helped us survive - and ultimately thrive.
Scientists are beginning to realize that ours is not a pedigree species, but a patchwork. We are all hybrids.
As early humans spread out across the world, their toughest challenge was colonizing the Americas — because a huge ice sheet blocked the route. It has long been thought that the pioneers, known as Clovis people, arrived about 13,000 years ago, but an underwater discovery in Mexico suggests people arrived earlier than previously thought — and by boat, not on foot. How closely related were these First Americans to today’s Native Americans? It’s a controversial matter, focused on Kennewick Man. Few other skeletons engender such strong feelings.
